Ryan Kadro, executive producer of ‘CBS This Morning,’ is exiting the network

Ryan Kadro will leave his post as executive producer of “CBS This Morning” when his contract expires at the end of this year, according to two people familiar with the plan.

Kadro has led the program, co-anchored by Norah O’Donnell, Gayle King, John Dickerson and Bianna Golodryga, since 2016 and has been involved on the production team since its launch in 2012.

The once-hot program — a major profit center for CBS News — fell into a ratings swoon after the network fired the show’s founding co-anchor Charlie Rose last year over allegations of sexual harassment.

Word of Kadro’s impending departure comes after CBS News settled a lawsuit with three former employees who sued the division for failing to act on alleged inappropriate behavior by Rose. Kadro was named in the suit for allegedly ignoring warnings about Rose’s behavior.

A CBS News representative declined to comment on the status of Kadro’s contract, but said conversations about his future are unrelated to the settlement of the lawsuit.

The legal action is ongoing against Rose, whose attorney has said the suit is “without merit.”

“CBS This Morning” had been a show on the rise with Rose, O’Donnell and King providing a more serious alternative to NBC’s “Today” and ABC’s “Good Morning America.” In its first five years on the air, CBS was gaining ground after having been a perennial third-place finisher in the morning, which is the most profitable time period for network news programming.

But the audience level started to slide after Rose’s exit. In the November sweeps ratings period used by TV stations to set ad rates, “CBS This Morning” averaged 3.28 million viewers, down 18% compared with a year ago.

stephen.battaglio@latimes.com

Twitter: @SteveBattaglio