CNN Headline News “Wants To Look & Feel Different” From Its Big Brother

Ken Jautz took over CNN Headline News “with a mandate to make major changes,” Wednesday’s Atlanta Journal-Constitution says, and that’s exactly what he is doing.

With the launch of Headline Prime, the network has a far different feel, and better ratings to boot. “About 600,000 people watch [Nancy] Grace at 8 p.m. on any given night, compared with the roughly 200,000 who used to tune in to Headline News’ former programming at the same time.”

“If all this seems very different from CNN, that’s the idea,” Scott Leith writes. “Jautz said Headline News wants to look and feel different from CNN, and there are no plans to use Headline to incubate programs for CNN.”

> “Greg D’Alba, who leads CNN’s advertising sales and marketing, said Headline News’ better ratings attracted 70 new advertisers last year. ‘It’s been well received by the advertising marketplace,’ he said.”

> New host Glenn Beck says: “I’m sick of both parties…This is not a political show.”