Billionaire Buys a King

Larry King (Photo credit: Wikipedia)Ora.TV, a digital network startup owned by 72-year-old Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim, CEO of Telmex and America Movil telcom companies and the world's richest man, is set to debut what is expected to be a stable of talk shows this summer, through streaming and apps on its Web site and elsewhere.

And the "fresh" face that will launch Ora.TV? That would be 78-year-old Larry King, whose Larry King Now will be posted online daily at 5 p.m. or 6 p.m. for watching by viewers at their leisure, according to an Associated Press story today.

King hosted Larry King Live for 25 years on CNN before being less-than-gently ushered out the door to make room for Piers Morgan Tonight. No, really.  Unlike his hour-long CNN gabfest, Larry King Now will air for 30 minutes, though may run shorter or longer depending on the person being interviewed and presumably, King's bladder control.

The energetic, suspenders-wearing Brooklynite aims to attract A-listers to his new Ora.TV project, telling AP that he hopes to interview President Barack Obama and  prospective GOP nominee Mitt Romney.

As the saying goes, "you can't keep a good man down."  Or, apparently, Larry King either.

CNN Taking 'Turner' for Worse with Scandalous Talking Heads?

Image via Wikipedia

The New York Post reported today that Prime Time ratings-starved CNN ("Ceding Nielsen's Nightly") may be girding for battle over viewers with cable rivals MSNBC and Fox  by adding the scandal-ridden Elliot Spitzer and Piers Morgan to its nightly talk show line-up.

Spitzer, the former Democratic governor of New York a/k/a "Client 9" in the Emperors Club prostitution scandal, reportedly will co-host a "Crossfire"-like talkfest at 8 p.m., replacing the failed Campbell Brown experiment (see "TUOL" post 5/19/10). The Post story says CNN, which cancelled "Crossfire" in 2005, is waiting to find a conservative counterpart to the liberal Spitzer before introducing the show.  Wonder where Post advice columnist Ashley Dupre falls on the political spectrum? She and Spitzer have worked well together in the past, after all.

Meanwhile, according to the Post, Morgan is being groomed to replace Larry King, whose nightly gabfest barely has a pulse, much the same as its host. Morgan is the one-time editor of  The Daily Mirror, who resigned in 2004 after publishing phony photos of British soldiers allegedly abusing Iraqi  prisoners. In 2000, he attracted negative attention when he bought stock in a company shortly before a Mirror article touted the company.

CNN denies it is searching for a successor to King, but is searching for a replacement for Brown. Apparently the cable station founded by Ted Turner didn't have Bill Moyers' phone number.