It's official: reality contest judge Piers Morgan is to take over Larry King's CNN talk show in January, the cable news station said Wednesday.

Morgan, 45, is a former editor of the British tabloid The Daily Mirror and is best known in the US for his role as a judge on the show America's Got Talent and for winning the 2008 season of Celebrity Apprentice.

'I have watched Larry King Live for much of the last 25 years, and dreamed of one day filling the legendary suspenders of the man I consider to be the greatest TV interviewer of them all,' Morgan said in a statement.

King, 76, announced his retirement in June after hosting LarryKing Live for 25 years. The fate of the prime-time show is considered crucial to the future of CNN, which has steadily been losing its audience to rivals like Fox New Channel and MSNBC as well as to internet news sites.