On Thursday, news came out that Warner Bros. Discovery, the parent company for CNN, is shutting down CNN+ as of April 30.
Incoming CNN President Chris Licht had a meeting with staffers, offering sympathy to the network’s employees while explaining the decision to shut down the streaming service.
CNN relayed the remarks from Licht to the staff, confirming the changes, with the first being that CNN+ chief Andrew Morse is departing the company. Meanwhile, Licht plans to work with Alex MacCallum to develop a new business strategy for the cable news channel.
“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,” Licht said. “It is not your fault that you had the rug pulled out from underneath you.”
He also vowed to minimize the impact on staff. Those who aren’t absorbed elsewhere within the company will receive a minimum of six months of severance.
Discovery’s streaming boss J.B. Perrette expressed his frustration with CNN’s “prior leadership,” which was led by Jeff Zucker until February, and WarnerMedia, which Jason Kilar led until early April.
“Some of this was avoidable,” Perrette said, but “prior leadership decided to just keep going” with the scheduled March launch of CNN+ despite the upcoming merger.
Eduardo Razo is the Assistant Content Editor for BNM, which includes writing daily news stories on the news media industry. He can be found on Twitter @eddierazo_ or you can reach him by email at eddie1991razo@gmail.com.
