CNN+, the rookie streaming service launched by the new Warner Bros. Discovery on March 29, is expected to shut down April 30 after just over a month of being available to consumers. Variety reported it first, with the New York Times confirming the date, but the writing was on the wall earlier this week.
The Warner Bros. Discovery flagship streaming service has struggled to grab eyeballs, with roughly 150,000 subscribers since launch. Earlier this week, the media giant suspended all external marketing communications for the streaming platform.
IndieWire has reached out to representatives at Warner Bros. Discovery for comment.
Upon launch, CNN+ slashed the price for early birds from $5.99 for $2.99 in the first month, but there was little on offer for CNN buffs, as the streaming platform doesn’t offer round-the-clock news and live updates the way the legacy channel provided by a regular cable subscription does.
Offerings have included a Don Lemon talk show, a Jake Tapper book club, an Anderson Cooper show on parenting, and “more than 1,000 hours” of CNN series, boasts Warner Bros. Discovery, as well as a lineup of CNN documentary films from “RBG” to “Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice.”
The exclusive deals Warner Bros. Discovery has with cable providers have seemingly prevented the streaming service from hosting what is traditionally CNN content.
It’s reported that the new CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery, David Zaslav, was rankled by the decision of Jason Kilar, the recently departed CEO of WarnerMedia back in the days when it was owned by AT&T, to launch CNN+ mere weeks before Discovery was set to take over operations amid the budding merger.
It’s also reported by Variety that incoming CNN CEO Chris Licht is holding a meeting Thursday, as revealed in a memo to staffers.
Licht has already reportedly told Andrew Morse, CNN executive vice president who oversees CNN+, of the decision to shutter the service.
There was talk of CNN+ and HBO Max (the media conglomerate’s most successful streaming outing so far) merging as one — but Warner Bros. Discovery also hoped to build out CNN+ at the level of that streaming platform, which launched May 27, 2020, and so far has more than 76 million global subscribers as of March reports.
