CNN+ is shutting down less than a month after ill-fated launch
Warner Bros Discovery is expected to shut down CNN+ just three weeks after the cable network launched the failing streaming service, according to reports.
CNN boss Chris Licht, who officially starts his new job on May 1, told staffers at a midday meeting Thursday that “this was an incredibly successful launch” but that it wasn’t compatible with Warner Bros Discovery’s new plans, according to a report by CNN.
“It’s not your fault that you had the rug pulled out from underneath you,” Licht said, the network reported.
According to CNN, Andrew Morse, the executive vice president in charge of CNN+ and all of CNN’s digital businesses, will depart the company.
The report said that during the meeting, CEO and president of Warner Bros. Discovery global streaming and interactive entertainment, JB Perrette expressed frustration with CNN’s “prior leadership,” which was led by Jeff Zucker until February, and WarnerMedia, which was led by Jason Kilar until early April.
“Some of this was avoidable,” Perrette reportedly said, but “prior leadership decided to just keep going” with the planned March launch of CNN+ despite the impending merger, he said.
Licht circulated a memo obtained by The Post ahead of a midday meeting thanking them for “flawlessly launching CNN+ in a very short period of time.”
He added that as part of the transition, all CNN+ employees will continued to be paid and receive benefits for the next 90 days and are encouraged to explore job openings at CNN, CNN Digital, and elsewhere in the Warner Bros. Discovery family.
At the end of that period, departing CNN+ employees will receive a minimum of six-months severance, depending on length of service at CNN.
The few who had subscribed to CNN+ will receive prorated refunds of the $5.99 a month subscription fee, the company said.
Prior to Thursday’s decision, the future of CNN+ was in doubt as new corporate parent Warner Bros. Discovery was looking to cut costs and reorganize the company.
Warner Bros. Discovery, which formed last week out of the merger between Discovery and WarnerMedia, is in the process of shoring up at least $3 billion in cost savings in 2023.
As part of its review of CNN+, which has roughly 150,000 subscribers, WBD is suspending all external marketing spend, according to a report from Axios titled “CNN+ looks doomed.”
The publication said CNN’s original plan to become profitable in four years by investing $1 billion in the service is being “knee-capped,” citing plans to eliminate high-level positions across WarnerMedia.
This includes potentially replacing Chris Cuomo’s 9 p.m. ET primetime slot with a “live newscast, instead of personality-driven perspective programming.”
A spokesman for WBD declined to comment.
Cuomo was fired from CNN in February after being suspended for advising his brother, then-New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, how to dodge his own sexual harassment accusations. The anchor sued CNN for $125 million, calling his termination “the epitome of hypocrisy.”
Cuomo also claimed that CNN’s habit of making “exceptions” to its rules “began at the top” with former CNN president Jeff Zucker and former chief marketing officer Allison Gollust, who both resigned under pressure last month for failing to disclose their affair.
Zucker was replaced with Licht, an executive producer with stints at CBS’s “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, “CBS This Morning” and MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
Aside from general cost-cutting, WBD CEO David Zaslav has been vocal about combining its various streaming services in one place and building it around HBO Max, source told The Post.
Under previous ownership, CNN+ execs were hoping to attract 2 million subscribers in the first year and 15 million to 18 million over four years, Axios said.
Roughly $300 million has been spent and hundreds of jobs have been created to support the streaming service to date.
