The news network's subscription offering hadn't even been operating for a month before Warner Bros. Discovery announced this week that it would be shutting down on
“It's going to be in the Top 10,” said
While “CNN minus” comments quickly proliferated, it's no joke to the more than 300 people hired for CNN+, which was in development for two years. CNN is expected to absorb some of those jobs but there will be layoffs — a clear picture on those numbers is still emerging.
The company spent hundreds of millions of dollars on the project and no one knew when, or if, losses would be replaced by profits.
Old-timers remember the Edsel, a new car model introduced by Ford in 1957 that was poorly made and too expensive. It was discontinued after two years, costing Ford an estimated
Coca-Cola's attempt to introduce a new flavor in 1985 was dropped in weeks. Except for its cameo role in the “Back to the Future” movies, the
Quibi, short for “quick bites,” had the backing of
Presciently, reporter
“CNN+ in its formative phase feels somewhat like the Quibi of streaming news,” Adalian wrote. “Lots of money has been spent, big stars are onboard, but it's hard to figure out just what the service is supposed to be and why a large number of people will want to pay for it.”
Rosenbaum, a self-described news junkie, couldn't figure out what CNN+ offered that was unique and vital to him. He said he never even considered paying the monthly
He said it had “lots of famous faces that I get other places.”
CNN+ has a handful of its own news programs, documentaries and talk shows and big names like
People can find streaming news in several places —
“In launching a new business, timing is everything and their timing couldn't have been worse,” said
When Discovery bought out
It never got that far, leaving some of its employees shell-shocked at the Thursday meeting when they were told the service would abruptly close.
One of the service's biggest champions, former CNN chief
CNN+ launched on
Incoming CNN chief executive
The Discovery team made it clear in the meeting that they didn't think CNN+ was going to work, based on its own experience with streaming.
“If we're going in a new direction, we can't let it go on one moment more than it needs to,” said
Licht repeatedly praised his staff for the quality of CNN+, and there's no way of knowing whether the product itself would have failed if it had a few years to settle in.
And Rosenbaum said he might have been enticed to see if it was worth it with an offer of a few free months.
Time, however, was one thing CNN+ did not have.
“It's a big failure,” Adamson said, “but not as big as it would have been if it kept going and became a black hole of money.”
Business writer
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