Oprah Winfrey's best friend Gayle King ditches OWN TV show for CBS

London, Nov 17 : Oprah Winfreys best friend Gayle King is leaving her network to join revamped Early Show on CBS.

The 56-year-old journalist, who has presented The Gayle King Show on the OWN network since January, will be co-hosting the Early Show.

King will continue to work with OWN from time to time, but will relinquish duties on her weekday programme.

OWN presidents Sheri Salata and Erik Logan released a joint statement today wishing King all the best.

We are so happy for Gayles opportunity of a lifetime. Shell be a fantastic host for the new morning show on CBS and we wish her all the best, the Daily Mail reported.

Kings appointment is part of a major revamp of CBSs morning TV news show.

The new two-hour, yet to be titled, show will debut on January 9 from a new studio in New York and replace the networks low-rated Early Show, CBS said.

Charlie Rose, who has also been appointed for the Early Show, will lead the 7 am hour, while King will lead the 8am hour of the show which they will co-host along with current anchor Erica Hill.

CBS said that the new morning program would give viewers a more thoughtful, substantive and insightful source of news, giving weight to national and global news stories.

This program represents a new direction for morning television at CBS, CBS News chairman Jeff Fager said.

We will produce a broadcast that is interesting and compelling and on top of the big stories of the day, he added.

The Early Show has since long trailed its NBC rival Today and ABCs Good Morning America in TV ratings and is down six percent in viewers this fall compared to last year.