Mark Thompson, an experienced news executive who has held top positions at the BBC and the New York Times,

will be the new head of

CNN with a mandate to accelerate the cable news channel’s march into the digital media future.

The Warner Bros. Discovery Unit is expected to announce Thompson’s hiring as soon as possible, according to people familiar with the plans who were not authorized to comment publicly.

Since the resignation of chairman Chris Licht on June 7, CNN has been led by news executives Amy Entelis, Virginia Moseley and Eric Sherling and chief operating officer David Leavy.

Thompson’s hiring is a signal that WBD wants to transform CNN, which relies largely on cable subscriptions for its revenue, into a digital news organization, much like he did at the New York Times, where he served as CEO from 2012 to 2020. .

CNN, one of the most recognized global news brands, has been through a rough patch in recent years, plagued by declining ratings, a changing media landscape with younger viewers leaving cable television, and more partisan divisions among viewers of news sources. The network’s Nielsen ratings lag badly behind conservative outlet Fox News and MSNBC, which target more liberal viewers.

CNN, which has nearly 4,000 employees, has also faced turmoil in its executive suite. Jeff Zucker, who led CNN through its most profitable years, was ousted in February 2022 after the company learned that he had failed to disclose a romantic relationship with his longtime assistant Allison Gollust, who also served as chief marketing officer.

After CNN became part of Warner Bros. Discovery, Light, a former news and late night talk

show

producer, was appointed chairman in April 2022. But his stewardship lasted about a year, as ratings continued to fall while he was forced to cut back on staff by his new parent company.

Licht failed to connect with staff and was unable to put together a primetime program that could reverse a drop in ratings. He was also under pressure to put more Republican politicians on CNN because Zaslav insisted the network had moved too far to the political left.

But

the effort to bring more conservative viewers to justice led to a chaotic town hall featuring former president and 2024 Republican nominee Donald Trump, alienating CNN viewers for weeks afterward.

London-born Thompson now finds himself in a scenario similar to the one he faced a decade ago in the New York Times.

CNN is a proud and powerful news organization that is still largely tied to a business model that is eroding as viewers move away from pay TV subscriptions and spend more time streaming video.

When Thompson joined the New York Times, he faced a similar challenge for a strong journalism organization that saw its audience decline as consumers turned away from print newspapers and toward online sources for news.

Thompson oversaw an investment in audio products such as The Daily podcast, newsletters and conferences. He used digital versions of crossword puzzles, games and recipes to increase the number of paying online consumers of the New York Times. As a result, the New York Times has trailed its main print competitors in the race for paying digital subscribers by nearly 10 million.

Whether Thompson can bring about the same kind of turnaround at CNN will be a major question in the media industry

moving forward

.

CNN has a huge reach online through its website and apps, all of which are free and rely on advertising. The cable network attracts paying customers through their subscriptions to pay TV services, which are declining at about 8% each year.

CNN launched a direct-to-consumer streaming service called CNN+ in March 2022. Nine days after CNN became part of Warner Bros. Discovery, the new owners decided to close it down due to cost concerns.

CNN is launching a new streaming service called CNN Max next month, which will be included as part of WBD’s Max streaming platform. It will feature a mix of live news presented by CNN hosts and simulcasts of several programs from the cable network, including “The Lead with Jake Tapper” and “Anderson Cooper 360.”

Thompson has experience as a TV news producer as part of his more than 30-year career with the BBC, working on current affairs programs such as ‘Newsnight’, ‘Nationwide’, ‘The Nine O’Clock News’ and ‘Panorama’. . ”

But he’s worked largely on the business side since the mid-1990s, first being controller and then director-general of the BBC before joining the New York Times.