CNN Looks to Hollywood to Lift it Out of Ratings Rut

Ratings-challenged CNN is trying a new approach to cable news: reality shows and Hollywood stars talking politics “The View”-style on a late-night show, the New York Post reported.

The network’s executives are combing Hollywood for talent and ideas for reality shows, the Post reported, in a bid to improve its programming and save the channel. The network brass is considering an 11 p.m. version of “The View,” the Post reported, and five new reality shows to air on weekends. They are also on the hunt in Hollywood for on-air personalities.

CNN has solicited ideas from producers who work with channels such as Bravo, Discovery, and History, according to the Post, which is a first for the network, which has refused to use outside producers.

CNN has been in a steep ratings slide of late. Its president, Jim Walton, who presided over the once-dominant cable-news business as it lost viewers to Fox News, will resign after almost a decade in the job, saying the network needs “new thinking.”

The embattled network reached another new low last month as it saw its July ratings down by double digits across the board, according to TVNewser.com. Compared to July 2011, the network is 20 percent down in total viewers and 23 percent in the key 25-54 demographic. Primetime numbers sank 23 percent in total Viewers and 26 percent in the 25-54 demographic, TVNewser.com reported.

Last month, CNN found itself on the defense after it played a song called “Stupid Girls” ahead of a segment about Sarah Palin visiting a Texas Chick-fil-A restaurant. The network later said the use of the song was unintentional and not meant as a commentary on the former Republican vice presidential candidate.

It also made a major gaffe earlier this summer, reporting incorrectly that the U.S. Supreme Court found a central piece of Obamacare to be unconstitutional.