Launched just a month ago, streaming service CNN+ will shut down by April 30 according to Warner Bros. Discovery. This despite being hailed by CNN executives as the “most significant launch” since the foundation of CNN in 1980. CNN+ customers, meanwhile, “will receive prorated refunds of subscription fees.”
“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, and, for the company, a more sustainable business model to drive our future investments in great journalism and storytelling,” Discovery’s global streaming president J.B. Perrette said in a statement.
In addition to this development, CNN CEO Christ Licht said in an internal memo that “all CNN+ employees will continue to be paid and receive benefits for the next 90 days to explore opportunities at CNN, CNN Digital and elsewhere in the Warner Bros. Discovery family.”
Staffers who will not be absorbed elsewhere in the company shall receive at least six months of severance pay. Nonetheless, executive vice president and CNN+ head Andrew Morse would reportedly leave the company after the transition period. This despite Licht’s statement that he wanted Morse to stay.
CNN initially planned to devote USD 1 billion for CNN+ and had already spent at least USD 100 million for the service. Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav had other plans, however, as he sought to unify all of the company’s brands under one streaming service.
“That’s where we go,” Zaslav stated in an earlier conversation with Oprah Winfrey days after the merger happened.
