Jeff Zucker (Getty Images)

Deadline's Nellie Andreeva reports that Jeff Zucker, executive producer of the decently-rated if not world-beating new talk show Katie, may already be on his way out; the former NBC chief is said to be a candidate to take over CNN when current president Jim Walton's contract expires at year's end.

Mr. Zucker, who worked with Katie host Katie Couric during her tenure as host of Today, told The Hollywood Reporter in 2011 that "Katie is a unique brand in television... Our hope is that we take that into the program." In the same interview, Mr. Zucker expressed regret over what had happened to NBC during his tenure as president of that network, when it fell from first to fourth among broadcast networks.