CNN boss Chris Licht guts HLN amid cost-cutting bloodbath

CNN boss Chris Licht has gutted sister network HLN, terminating all live programming as part of ongoing layoffs and budget cuts.

Licht slashed HLN’s “Morning Express with Robin Meade,” as well as “Weekend Express,” he announced in a memo to CNN’s remaining staff on Thursday.

Meade and HLN’s live news programming staffers will be among those fired.

Also getting their pink slips Thursday were prominent CNN correspondents Alison Kosik, Martin Savidge, Alex Field, Mary Ann Fox, and Chris Cillizza, according to Variety.

CNN declined to comment on the overall number of job cuts when reached by The Post.

But Licht has also targeted staffers working on long-form storytelling, as well as paid contributors.

“In some areas, we will rely more on our CNN journalists,” Licht said in the memo. “Overall, we will engage contributors who are subject-matter experts that expand and diversify the viewpoints we bring our audience.”

Licht, who announced he’ll hold a town hall Tuesday, explained the restructuring in his memo.

“Our goal throughout the strategic review process has been to better align our people, processes and resources with our future priorities, strengthen our ability to deliver on CNN’s core journalistic mission and enable us to innovate in the years ahead,” Licht wrote in his memo.  “At the highest level, the goal is to direct our resources to best serve and grow audiences for our core news programming and products.”

Licht is also expected to unveil details of a new daytime lineup for CNN in the coming days, as sources wondered about the futures of high-salaried anchors like Briana Keiler, John Berman, Chris Wallace, Kasie Hunt, and Audie Cornish.

A source with knowledge said those anchors are not on the chopping block but could find homes in open programming slots.

Licht confirmed that beginning Dec. 6, CNN would no longer produce live programming for HLN, formally known as Headline News, and would instead simulcast “CNN This Morning.” 

HLN crime programming will move under the WBD Networks, led by Kathleen Finch, and will be merged with the ID cable channel.  

As for CNN, one media insider said Licht still faces enormous challenges even after the cuts. Not only is he tasked with lifting the ratings of the third-place network, but he has to remake the daytime and primetime lineup and fill CNN’s important 9 p.m. slot still open after the firing of disgraced anchor Chris Cuomo in late 2021.

Licht, who grabbed the reins in May after Jeff Zucker was ousted for not disclosing an affair with a co-worker, has also tried to disrupt CNN’s culture of opinion-focused shows to focus more on middle-of-the-road reporting.

“People should walk in Chris Licht’s shoes,” said one media insider, who noted that Zucker “got off easy.”

“If Zucker was still around, he would have left town by now,” the source added.

Licht’s search to slash costs comes as corporate parent Warner Bros. Discovery promised Wall Street it would cut $3 billion in costs, after acquiring the assets of the company formerly known as WarnerMedia from AT&T.

Warner Bros. Discovery, which also owns HBO and Food Network, recently said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it would have to spend between $1 billion and $1.5 billion to scrap programming already commissioned and pay out severance packages.

The media conglomerate also said it expected to take write-downs of potentially more than $4 billion in pre-tax charges through 2022.