The CNN+ woes continue: Report


A new report from Axios finds that things at CNN+ — CNN's recently-launched streaming service — aren't looking too great ... but maybe you knew that already.
Warner Bros. Discovery (CNN's new parent company) has reportedly suspended all external marketing spending for CNN+ and even laid off CNN's chief financial officer as it decides how to handle the service going forward, says Axios. Other high-level WarnerMedia positions across different functions are likely to undergo a restructuring in the coming weeks, as well.
In a separate move, sources told Axios that leadership is considering a plan to replace former primetime host Chris Cuomo's 9 p.m. ET slow with a live newscast, instead of "personality-driven perspective programming," Axios summarizes. That decision appears in line with Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav's plan to push CNN away from opinion content and back toward its hard, breaking news core.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
But meanwhile, CNN executives and Discovery executives have reportedly been at odds over the CNN+ strategy as a whole. Discovery executives wish CNN had waited until after the merger to launch the service, while CNN execs worry their hard work is about to be dismantled.
All in all, "bad timing, limited communications, and misaligned incentives" appear to blame for the process' shortcomings, Axios writes. Though Discovery's team thought they made clear what they wanted, "CNN executives didn't feel corporate pressure from WarnerMedia to pause the rollout." And Jeff Zucker's unexpected resignation as president of CNN surely didn't help all the back and forth, either.
Read more on the botched internal comms at Axios.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Brigid Kennedy worked at The Week from 2021 to 2023 as a staff writer, junior editor and then story editor, with an interest in U.S. politics, the economy and the music industry.
-
ABC shelves ‘Kimmel Live’ after Trump FCC threat
Speed Read ‘A free and democratic society cannot silence comedians because the president doesn’t like what they say’
-
September 18 editorial cartoons
Cartoons Thursday's political cartoons include a man who would be king, an inconsistent court, and social media in the trash
-
Spinal Tap II: The End Continues – laughs are sadly ‘thin on the ground’
Talking Point Disappointing sequel to the classic rock’n’roll spoof
-
Florida erases rainbow crosswalk at Pulse nightclub
Speed Read The colorful crosswalk was outside the former LGBTQ nightclub where 49 people were killed in a 2016 shooting
-
Trump says Smithsonian too focused on slavery's ills
Speed Read The president would prefer the museum to highlight 'success,' 'brightness' and 'the future'
-
Trump to host Kennedy Honors for Kiss, Stallone
Speed Read Actor Sylvester Stallone and the glam-rock band Kiss were among those named as this year's inductees
-
White House seeks to bend Smithsonian to Trump's view
Speed Read The Smithsonian Institution's 21 museums are under review to ensure their content aligns with the president's interpretation of American history
-
Charlamagne Tha God irks Trump with Epstein talk
Speed Read The radio host said the Jeffrey Epstein scandal could help 'traditional conservatives' take back the Republican Party
-
CBS cancels Colbert's 'Late Show'
Speed Read 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert' is ending next year
-
Shakespeare not an absent spouse, study proposes
speed read A letter fragment suggests that the Shakespeares lived together all along, says scholar Matthew Steggle
-
New Mexico to investigate death of Gene Hackman, wife
speed read The Oscar-winning actor and his wife Betsy Arakawa were found dead in their home with no signs of foul play