> Update: 4:20pm: AM will lose the 9am hour in mid-October, TV Week says...

Nine months after American Morning expanded to four hours, CNN's morning show is shrinking back to three.

The O'Brien's will host from 6 to 9am beginning "later in the fall," CNN announced today. (Don't say we didn't warn you: Back in June, TVNewser mentioned rumors about a three-hour AM.) In an interview today, CNN/U.S. president Jon Klein characterized the move as a "humanitarian gesture."

"We want to make sure it's easier on the anchors and producers to focus... you have a clear news audience from 6 to 9am, and they are a newsy show," Klein said. He added: "We just want to take a little bit of the load off of them."