More Klein…

The LA Times’ Joe Flint interviews Jon Klein.

In an interview, Klein revealed that he had recently renewed his contract with CNN and has “quite a bit of time left” on his deal. Furthermore, just last April his boss — CNN Worldwide President Jim Walton — said he wasn’t worried about CNN’s poor ratings.

“It’s not as dire as maybe some people say,” Walton said, adding that while he wasn’t satisfied with the performance, he also wasn’t “concerned.” At that time, CNN had seen its prime-time ratings drop by more than 41% from a year ago.

That doesn’t sound like someone getting ready to make a big executive change. On Friday, Walton said CNN’s performance was the reason for replacing Klein with HLN chief Ken Jautz.

“We’re not satisfied with the low ratings,” Walton told reporters on a conference call, but did not elaborate on what specifically had changed from a few months ago.

The fact that Klein signed a new multi-year deal says a lot about today’s firing. It’s not unheard of for someone to get the heave ho after doing a new deal. Kevin Reilly at NBC Entertainment is the most recent example…until today that is. But the timing is still hinky for me (see below blog entry for reasons why).

Emily Chang joins Bloomberg…

Business Insider’s Joe Pompeo scoops that Bloomberg TV has hired Emily Chang, formerly of CNN, and will be developing a new Silicon Valley based show for her…

We hear Chang, who joined CNN’s Beijing bureau in 2008, will be based in San Francisco and will be on a new show Bloomberg TV is developing about tech and startups in the Bay Area.

Bloomberg already has one tech correspondent, Cris Valerio, whose half-hour show, “Venture,” airs Friday nights at 7:30. With Chang, it seems like the network is expanding its coverage of Silicon Valley.

In Depth: Jim Walton Bungles Executive Shakeup or Slick PR Move?

I touched on this briefly earlier this morning but it really needs a bigger fleshing out. The major question everyone should be asking in the wake of today’s CNN executive shakeup isn’t “How’d it happen?” nor “What’s the future hold?” nor “What other changes are coming?” and certainly isn’t “What’s Klein’s legacy?”. No, the most important question which only a few people have looked at so far is this: Why now?

Why fire Klein now? This is the real head scratcher. This is what makes the whole executive shakeup nonsensical for me.

Put it in these terms: Klein had mostly completed implementing another makeover to primetime and early evening. John King, USA is still young. Parker Spitzer is set to debut next month. Piers Morgan will debut in a few months. Sure there’s an open question about future talent staffing on American Morning, which Klein was probably already looking at but hadn’t gotten around to working on, but the biggest focus – the one where everyone is looking at – has been primetime. 2/3 of CNN primetime just got rebooted and the lead-in to primetime (King’s show) is new. Firing Klein at this point makes no sense because you fire the man but you’re forced to live with his legacy. You don’t fire people so that you can live with their legacy. You fire people because you don’t want to live with their legacy.

Zucker Out: Internal Management War…

FBN’s Charile Gasparino writes about Jeff Zucker’s exit and what it means for CNBC…

Jeff Zucker’s departure from NBC has set the stage for an all-out war among remaining top executives at the firm, pitting Mark Hoffman, who runs the CNBC business channel, against NBC News president Steve Capus, with the loser likely to leave the firm, FOX Business Network has learned.

It is no secret that Capus and Hoffman are more than just rivals inside the NBC; there’s also a degree of personal animosity between both men as well, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter. In recent weeks, as speculation swirled about Zucker’s departure following the completion of Comcast Corp.’s (NASDAQ:CMCSA) purchase of NBC Universal from General Electric (GE: 16.64 ,+0.50 ,+3.07%), Hoffman has even made it clear to people inside the company that he isn’t reporting to Capus in whatever new corporate structure emerges.

But as frantic NBC employees digest the news of Zucker’s departure, senior people within NBC say the odds of survival weigh in Capus’s favor. Indeed, speculation swirled on Friday that Capus would get a promotion inside the company, and that Hoffman may be ousted, these people say.

Capus and Hoffman are just the tip of the iceberg. Gasparino looks at CNBC but keep an eye on NBC News’ structure as well. Zucker “protected” a lot of people and kept various factions with competing interests mostly in check because Zucker was driving the whole team in the same direction, whether its members all wanted to go there or not. But with the head decapitated, the body will start to rot. The power grab and turf war scramble will be on in earnest and not just inside CNBC. Promoting Capus higher up will negate this but only to a point.

Who should you keep an eye on? Anyone who rubbed others the wrong way or made waves but was a devoted Zucker loyalist going way back; someone who until today was protected. Those people will be working overtime to endear/align themselves to/with Capus now.

Ahmadinejad cancels on Smith…

Shepard Smith put it out on Facebook this morning that Ahmadinejad canceled his interview…

Klein Speaks…

The New York Times’ Brian Stelter interviews Jonathan Klein…

The change is effective immediately. Mr. Klein was fired earlier this week by his boss Jim Walton, the president of CNN Worldwide. In a telephone interview, Mr. Klein said Mr. Walton “told me they wanted to restructure things this way, and thank you very much, and good luck.”

…

Like many media industry observers, Mr. Klein thought that his bosses would wait to judge him until the new 8 and 9 p.m. programs were on the air.

“I’m disappointed that I’m not going to get to see these new shows through to completion and to see them soar,” Mr. Klein said. But he added, “The good thing about TV is that you can still watch the product, even if you’re not in charge of it anymore. So I’m looking forward to watching.”

Update: So does NY Magazine’s Gabriel Sherman…

“People get shot in our business. I got shot,” Klein said in a phone interview.

…

“I expected a decision would be made after the show had been on for a while,” Klein said. “Others thought differently. I’m disappointed.”

Klein says he wanted more time to see how the new programming worked out. “I’m a big proponent of accountability. But I thought a judgment would come on three levels: one, quality; two, ratings; three, profitability.”

One theory among insiders is that Walton axed Klein so that if the new shows fail, he could take the blame. Klein himself speculates that, given that the decision to replace him had been made, it was cleaner to do it now rather than in the future.

“There could have been a fear in making a change later which could make it seem like these shows and the schedule are in trouble.”

Jeff Zucker stepping down at NBC Universal

Oh boy, first Klein…now this. The New York Times’ Bill Carter scoops that Jeff Zucker is leaving NBC Universal…

In an interview in NBC’s executive offices, Mr. Zucker, who is 45, said the decision to leave the only employer he has ever worked for — a decision he acknowledged he was not his own choice — became inevitable after a meeting two weeks ago with Steve Burke, Comcast’s chief operating officer.

“We had both gotten to the same place,” Mr. Zucker said. “He made it clear that they wanted to move on at the close of the deal and I was completely comfortable with that.”

Even as he said he accepted the logic of a new owner seeking to install its own chief executive, Mr. Zucker also described his departure as both “incredibly emotional” and “gut-wrenching in the sense that you have spent your whole life here at NBC.”

Klein/Jautz/Safon…

CNN just put out two releases on today’s network executive shakeup…

Ken Jautz to Lead CNN

Ken Jautz, a long time CNN executive who most recently oversaw the HLN network, has assumed the role of executive vice president of CNN/U.S. reporting to Jim Walton, president of CNN Worldwide. Jautz replaces Jon Klein who will be departing the company after 6 years in the role.
Jautz has managed several networks for CNN and Turner Broadcasting in both Europe and the United States including HLN, CNNfn, and n-tv, a German national news channel.

Free for All: 09/24/10

What’s on your mind…uh…besides CNN and NBCU’s news cycle oxygen robbing announcements?

Jon Klein out and Ken Jautz in at CNN?!?!

FTVLive is reporting that Jon Klein will be fired from CNN today and HLN’s Ken Jautz will be taking over…

Update: I have a feeling we’ll be getting more details in the New York Times shortly.

Update 2: Odd timing to firing Klein. They just hired Parker and Spitzer and Piers Morgan and John King, USA is still relatively new. That’s all Klein’s doing. Now Jautz will allegedly take over with 2/3 of CNN primetime being brand new, and therefore untouchable. So though Klein may now be gone, his legacy will stick around for quite a while, boxing Jautz in and leaving him with little room to maneuver in the near to mid-term.

Update 3: FTVLive tweeted this news about 20. I retweeted it. But now that tweet and my RT have disappeared. The story is still on the FTV website. What’s going on here?

Update 4: Brian Stelter confirms via Twitter…

Breaking: Jonathan Klein, president of CNN/U.S., is being replaced by Ken Jautz, president of sister network HLN, network source says.

Update 5: Jim Walton sent out the following email to staff this morning…