Street Talk: Zucker Wants Ann Curry For CNN

The NYPost reports incoming president of CNN Worldwide Jeff Zucker has plans to bring ousted “Today” show co-host Ann Curry to his new network as a high-profile anchor, sources tell Page Six.

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Zucker — the former executive producer of “Today” and one-time NBC Universal head — is interested in installing Curry in CNN’s 8 p.m. time slot, we hear, which is currently occupied by Anderson Cooper.

“Jeff wants a headliner like Rachel Maddow or Bill O’Reilly in prime time,” a source says. “He cannot allow the low ratings at CNN to continue . . . so he can’t hire a nobody. Curry fits that CNN-smarty-pants-foreign-affairs type.”

The source adds that Curry’s ouster as co-anchor over at NBC’s “Today” would actually work to boost her appeal with audiences. “Package her experience as a news anchor for 14 years at NBC with the sympathy that’s remained out there for her after the way the ‘Today’ show treated her,” the source said.

Curry’s tearful on-air farewell after being fired by NBC over the summer as “Today” co-host — having been given just a year on the job — was widely described as an “execution.”

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