CNN+, the billion-dollar bet that CNN’s future depended on digital streaming, will be shutting down at the end of the month, The New York Times and CNN report. The news comes scarcely three weeks after CNN+ launched on March 29th.
The streaming offshoot of the cable news titan was championed by former CEO Jeff Zucker, who had planned to spend $1 billion on CNN+ over four years. But Zucker departed in February after failing to disclose a relationship with CNN’s marketing chief, and the future of the platform fell further into doubt last month, when CNN’s parent company WarnerMedia finalized a merger with Discovery to become Warner Bros. Discovery. Its fate may have been sealed when Warner Bros. Discovery announced that HBO Max and Discovery+ would be combined into one streaming platform.
“In a complex streaming market, consumers want simplicity and an all-in service which provides a better experience and more value than stand-alone offerings,” Discovery executive J.B. Perrette said in a statement, “and, for the company, a more sustainable business model to drive our future investments in great journalism and storytelling.”
Hundreds of CNN+ staffers will be laid off, and others will be reassigned to either CNN or Warner Bros. Discovery’s streaming projects. Before it’s demise, CNN+ invested heavily in high-profile talent, including former Fox News anchor Chris Wallace, former NBC anchor Kasie Hunt, food influencer Alison Roman, and onetime NPR co-host Audie Cornish. The fates of these and other people have not been announced.
Those who subscribed to CNN+ “will receive prorated refunds of subscription fees,” when it shutters on April 30th.
