Soledad O'Brien 'on her way out' at CNN as Erin Burnett reportedly takes over her morning slot



CNN morning anchor Soledad O’Brien is reportedly leaving the network and Erin Burnett will be replacing her alongside new co-anchor Chris Cuomo.

'The deal to move Erin to the morning alongside Chris Cuomo is basically done,' a source told the New York Post . 'Soledad had been told she’d get a prime-time slot, but that hasn’t yet happened, and now she is telling friends she is likely to leave.'

The source added that O'Brien 'doesn't seem to fit the direction the network is going' under new CNN chief Jeff Zucker, even though she is 'talented at producing in-depth, serious pieces of journalism, and is a tough interviewer.'

CNN morning anchor Soledad O'Brien leaving the network and Erin Burnett will be replacing her alongside new co-anchor Chris Cuomo

Zucker has made a number of sweeping changes at the network since he took over, including hiring ABC's Cuomo and Jake Tapper.



Both men found their paths to higher-profile jobs at ABC blocked.



Cuomo, who was news anchor at 'Good Morning America' from 2006 to 2009, was passed over for George Stephanopoulos as co-host of that show while Tapper twice didn't get a shot at the anchor job on 'This Week,' first when Stephanopoulos left and then when he returned to the Sunday show.

Both Cuomo and Tapper will have their own daily programs on CNN, which generally runs third in the ratings behind Fox and MSNBC but improves during big news events.

Zucker has also pushed out RedState's Erick Erickson along with political power couple James Carville and his wife Mary Matalin. The couple had been with CNN since 2005.

New talent: Erin Burnett, left, will reportedly be taking over O'Brien's (right) morning slot on the network



Soledad O'Brien began anchoring CNN's morning program Starting Point in January 2012 and the show ended in March 2013 as CNN wanted to go in a different direction with their morning line up

In addition to the broadcast morning shows, CNN is competing with two distinctive cable news morning programs in Fox News Channel's 'Fox & Friends' and MSNBC's 'Morning Joe.'

Zucker was the 'Today' show executive producer as the show began dominating morning television in the mid-1990s, before moving up in the NBC executive suite, and he is expected to work closely in developing the new morning show. He was largely responsible for Matt Lauer and Meredith Vieira getting their jobs at 'Today.'

O'Brien has been with CNN since 2003 when she was anchor of 'American morning.' She's now anchor of CNN's current morning show, 'Starting Point,' - a gig that began in January of 2012.



The show runs from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m.

Shakeup: Jeff Zucker supposedly thinks that Burnett is a ‘real talent’ and that she could be the one to end the ratings slump that has seen its breakfast program beaten even by HLN

Zucker was O'Brien's former boss at NBC, where she worked before CNN.



As news broke that Zucker would be taking the helm at CNN, O'Brien told the New York Times Magazine that she was certain he wouldn't be pushing her to take on a cooking or fashion show on the network.

