Warner Bros. Discovery is dropping its cable assets — with channels like CNN, TBS, and TNT — like a sack of potatoes in an effort to put all its eggs in the streaming basket.
The plan announced Monday morning would spin off the cable channels away from the likes of HBO, HBO Max, and the company’s film properties. Which doesn’t make the company unique by any stretch of the imagination, but it does hold what was once a cable crown jewel, CNN, in its portfolio.
I don’t think it is a coincidence that the overwhelming majority of headlines and comments from Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav were about the HBO Max streaming service. That has been the company’s focus for quite some time — even if they had an idiot attack and dropped “HBO” from the name because “People associate HBO with quality”…huh? — and will continue to be the focus going forward.
But CNN is still a valuable property for a variety of reasons. What the future of the network looks like without Warner Bros. Discovery remains a mystery, though.
What should the future of CNN look like? Because everyone likes to talk about what CNN used to be. I think it’s time to talk about what CNN can be in the future.
Despite what I would label as an insanely slow rollout, I think the network is on the right page by attempting to pivot to a more digital-focused model under the tutelage of CEO Mark Thompson. What Thompson did to reinvigorate The New York Times can’t be understated as it is now a digital juggernaut.
Furthermore, I think CNN might be better off as an independent entity, even away from the other cable assets at WBD. For CNN to be at its best, it — in my opinion — needs a non-descript owner. Someone who isn’t going to fuel charges of a political bias or interference one way or another. It needs someone who isn’t going to cause headaches for the on-air talent and product to be hampered by stories of who the owners are shaking hands with, playing golf with, and which campaigns they’re donating to.
Is a return to greatness possible for CNN? I think so. But it’s going to be a long, hard journey that won’t be accomplished overnight. And that’s an issue in a “But what about the value for the shareholders?!” world many media enterprises now exist. Cable news isn’t dead. Far from it, actually. But the cable bundle and cable television as a whole does have a limited shelf life. It’s why brands like Fox News have delved into alternative distribution methods like the FOX Nation streaming platform and are focusing on their digital offerings.
But if there is one thing that has been clear out of the shift to streaming, it’s that those who hop on the saddle first are the winners. It’s why CNN needs to get its streaming strategy down pronto, not tomorrow, not today, but yesterday. Because every day that goes past is another day that news consumers find content elsewhere on digital platforms.
For instance, I went on the CNN website to look for video content from Anderson Cooper 360. In the “latest video” category from the show, the top eight most recent videos included stories about Cooper’s coverage of Hurricane Milton, what 10 and 11-year-olds thought about Donald Trump and Kamala Harris as the election neared, and Cooper trying on special glasses ahead of the solar eclipse.
Notice a trend there? They’re all stories from 2024. And not just 2024, some going back as far as April of last year. We’re working on being halfway done with 2025 and those qualify as “Latest From AC 360”?
Moreover, on YouTube, CNN doesn’t have dedicated playlists to content from its primetime shows featuring Abby Phillip, Cooper, Erin Burnett, Kaitlan Collins, or Laura Coates? Why is it making it a challenge and a chore for users to watch the network’s content? I have legitimately no idea.
But all of that pales in comparison to the questions that await the network going forward after the Warner Bros. Discovery spinoff, which is likely to be completed next year. There’s a pathway for CNN to return to prominence, which I’ve written about before. But the first step has to include getting out of its own way. And right now, that seems like a tall task at times. I’ll remain hopeful, however, that the once venerable brand can see some progress without WBD helping it trip over its own feet.
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Garrett Searight is Barrett Media’s News Editor, which includes writing bi-weekly industry features and a weekly column. He has previously served as Program Director and Afternoon Co-Host on 93.1 The Fan in Lima, OH, and is the radio play-by-play voice of Northern Michigan University hockey. Reach out to him at Garrett@BarrettMedia.com.
