CNN renews deal with talk show host Larry King

LOS ANGELES - CNN has renewed its contract with veteran talk show host Larry King in a deal that keeps the cable news outlet's top-rated personality at the network through 2009, the network announced on Wednesday.

The contract extension, which network sources said would pay King nearly $US7 million ($NZ9.51 million) a year, ensures that CNN's flagship programme remains intact for four more years as the network battles further prime-time losses to archrival Fox News Channel.

Airing at 9pm on weeknights, Larry King Live will mark 20 years on CNN in June, and King's latest renewal will take the 71-year-old host through the 50th year of his broadcasting career.

"I've had a great relationship with CNN. It's my family," King said in a statement given to Daily Variety. "I'm looking forward to many more years with the network. "

Hunching over his microphone in shirt-sleeves and suspenders, the throaty-voiced King has hosted politicians and entertainers of every stripe.

Going back to his his pre-CNN days, King has interviewed every US president since Gerald Ford. His programme has long been a talk show of choice for celebrities looking to go public with potentially embarrassing or controversial news.

So much a part of the pop culture has he become that King has made cameo appearances as himself in more than 20 movies over the years. And while some detractors fault him for an interview style they see as letting guests off too easy, a recent study by the Project for Excellence in Journalism credited him as the cable television host least likely to offer a personal opinion on the air.

- REUTERS