Thursday's shocking announcement that CNN+ would be shutting down operations less than a month after it launched has left out-of-work staffers “aghast and furious” over the company’s handling of what sources inside the network call “an absolute debacle.”
“This is f–king crazy, it is nuts,” a CNN insider told The NY Post.
CNN+ — which one insider estimated the network spent $300 million launching and between $100 million and $200 million advertising — will cease streaming for good at the end of the month.
“All the CNN talent were basically doing double duty — Don Lemon, just announced his show a few days ago,” one staffer lamented. “But the writing was on the wall when CNN+ advertising was pulled a few days ago.”
Network insiders were horrified to learn that all junior staffers at the streaming service were let go. The roughly 300 staffers were offered six months’ severance as well as first dibs on job opportunities within CNN. Big-ticket acquisitions will likely be reassigned within the company.
CNN+’s big-ticket acquisitions, meanwhile — including former Fox News star Chris Wallace and ex-MSNBC reporter Kasie Hunt — are expected to be reassigned to the cable news mothership or to other platforms within the Warner Bros. Discovery media empire.
Sources told The Post that CNN “overspent on talent” by giving Wallace $9 million per year while Hunt was lured away from MSNBC with an annual paycheck of $1 million.
Insiders fumed that the corporate suits at Warner Bros. Discovery laid off staffers so soon after the streaming service started operations.
“Many people left their stable jobs at CNN to go to CNN+ and then they pull it right after launch?” the source said.
The Wall Street Journal reports because of its relationships with pay-TV distributors, CNN was limited in the amount of live news and content it could put on its CNN+ platform. Without the urgency of breaking news, the site was seen as a tough sell by Discovery executives, a person close to the operation said. The majority of the content was mostly softer fare such as Chris Wallace’s interview shows, where he often chatted with celebrities such as William Shatner and Joan Collins.
Rival Fox News has had more success in the direct-to-consumer streaming business. Its service Fox Nation has more than one million subscribers, a person familiar with that operation said. But Fox News is also known for a very loyal audience, and the service offers both entertainment fare as well as content from some of its biggest names including Tucker Carlson. Fox News owner Fox Corp. and Wall Street Journal parent News Corp share common ownership.
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