CNN’s new owner has announced that the news channel’s streaming service “CNN+” will be shut down just a month after its debut. After the service is shut down on April 30th, Warner Bros. Discovery (formerly WarnerMedia) claims it will give refunds to customers. According to a report, the Head of CNN+ has resigned, and hundreds of employees may lose their jobs as a result.
CNN+ was launched on March 29 in an attempt to generate revenue through subscriptions to news streaming services. According to sources, the corporation spent up to $300 million developing the program, but it got off to a poor start, attracting only 10,000 daily viewers.
Earlier this month, Warner Bros. Discovery became CNN’s parent company with the completion of the merger of media company Discovery and telecom giant AT&T.
Chris Licht, incoming chief executive of CNN, said the business “will be strongest as part of WBD’s streaming strategy which envisions news as an important part of a compelling broader offering along with sports, entertainment, and nonfiction content.” “We have therefore made the decision to cease operations of CNN+,” he added.
Discovery’s streaming boss JB Perrette said the firm was searching for a “more sustainable business model to drive our future investments in great journalism and storytelling.”
Andrew Morse, who supervised CNN’s streaming strategy, would go as part of the reorganization.
Hundreds of CNN+ staff have also been given 90 days to find new jobs within the corporation, according to a CNN report. Those who do not comply will be given a severance compensation of at least six months’ pay, according to the report.
In the three months leading up to July, the platform warned shareholders that another two million customers were likely to quit. The company’s New York-listed shares dropped by more than a third after the disclosure, wiping $50 billion off its market value.
