CNN Headline News will be dropping its thirty-minute news wheel format during primetime, it was confirmed today.

Headline Prime will debut on February 21, featuring Showbiz Tonight at 7pm and a legal analysis show hosted by Court TV's Nancy Grace at 8pm. Those programmes will then be followed by a signature newscast at 9pm, with the entire block repeating at 10pm.

Showbiz Tonight will broadcast from the Time Warner Center in New York, hosted by AJ Hammer and Karyn Bryant.

"Most entertainment news shows are taped several hours before broadcast, but Showbiz Tonight will be live and so much more up-to-date," said CNN News Group executive VP Ken Jautz. "In fact the show’s motto is ‘If it happened today, it’s on Showbiz Tonight."

Nancy Grace's new show, meanwhile, has been imaginatively titled Nancy Grace. A press release from CNN today said the show "will explore legal issues like guilt and innocence, the death penalty and rape shield laws as they unfold in courtrooms across the country every day."

The move marks the most radical change on the channel since its revamp in August 2001. The channel was originally launched in 1982 as CNN2, and has - until now - provided a 24/7 headline service.