CNN Plus announced Thursday it is shutting down only a month after starting because of low interest in the company’s subscriber plan. CNN reportedly poured $300 million into creating CNN Plus.
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The subscriber program will officially end April 30.
“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 streaming head J.B. Perrette said in a statement. “We have very exciting opportunities ahead in the streaming space and CNN, one of the world’s premier reputational assets, will play an important role there.”
CNN said that Discovery, which recently merged with WarnerMedia’s CNN, was unhappy that Jeffrey Toobin went through with the launch of CNN Plus just before that merger.
which was led by Jeff Zucker until February, and WarnerMedia, which was led by Jason Kilar
From CNN:
The streaming service ended up launching just two weeks before the WarnerMedia-Discovery merger completed, much to the exasperation of Discovery leadership, which had a different strategy but could not legally communicate with CNN executives before the deal was official. The executive vice president in charge of CNN+ and all of CNN’s digital businesses, Andrew Morse, who worked closely with Kilar and Zucker, will depart the company after a transition period.
Of course, the reactions on Twitter ranged from consolation to mockery.
The journalists I have been privileged to work with on CNN Plus are world class
I am so incredibly proud to be able to call them colleagues
If your organization would like a chance to benefit from their talents, my DMs are open
This is *my* job for the foreseeable future
— Kasie Hunt (@kasie) April 21, 2022
can’t imagine why cnn plus is dying https://t.co/sXQXzKMxlI
— Jack Posobiec ☦️ (@JackPosobiec) April 21, 2022
lol just got finished with my cnn plus hit, what did i miss https://t.co/5sUf0GtOIQ
— Ashley Carman (@ashleyrcarman) April 21, 2022
Fake News Plus (aka CNN+) is dead.
Americans rejected a network that no longer pushed out real news.
Americans made the right choice.
— Rep Andy Biggs (@RepAndyBiggsAZ) April 21, 2022
