Bob Costas will become the main substitute host for Larry King on CNN, filling in for King roughly 20 times a year.
King, 71, celebrated the 20th anniversary of his show last week by interviewing former presidents Bush and Clinton, Watergate reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein and CBS’ Dan Rather.
King has seen his ratings slip recently; the 970,000 viewers in May represented his worst month in four years, according to Nielsen Media Research.
CNN/U.S. President Jonathan Klein said the idea that Costas could be the longtime successor to King wasn’t part of his thinking.
“Larry King is far and away the superstar of CNN and if you list any of the areas we need to address at CNN, 9 o’clock Sunday through Thursday is not on the list,” he said.
One of King’s most frequent substitutes, Nancy Grace, has been doing well with her own legal talk show on CNN Headline News.
Costas, 53, has been a host of the Olympics and has covered the World Series, Super Bowl and National Basketball Association during his 25 years at NBC Sports. He also took a turn as the host of the talk show “Later with Bob Costas” for six years.
His first appearance on CNN will be on Sunday night.
Costas said he would not have agreed to the one-year deal without King’s approval. He also said he’s not considering it as training for a potential full-time gig.
“I’m not approaching it that way and Larry shows, to me, no sign of slowing down,” he said.
Credit: Yahoo/AP
