CNN confirmed Monday that it has hired anchor Campbell Brown, formerly of NBC News, effective September 1st. Just a day earlier Brown had announced on NBC's "Weekend Today" that she would be leaving as host. Brown had been at NBC for 10 years. Rumors of her discontent grew after she was passed over to succeed Katie Couric on the weekday edition of "Today." That post went instead to Meredith Vieira. As for the seat now open at "Weekend Today," where Brown had been co-host with Lester Holt since 2003, NBC says it will make an announcement in a few months and have several different fill-ins in the interim.
SmartMedia observation: This will just fuel speculation about a primetime shake-up at CNN. Will Brown get a new show to replace Paula Zahn's ratings-impaired show that currently kicks off primetime at 8:00 pm ET? Or will Lou Dobbs move into primetime?
