Liberal network has battled steep financial losses and plummeting ratings in recent years
CNN is trying to create another streaming platform, three years after shuttering its catastrophic $300 million “CNN+” platform in just 23 days.
The new streaming venture will build on CNN’s existing digital subscription system, which provides paid users with unlimited access to articles and exclusive content, CEO Mark Thompson said Tuesday during a staff meeting, according to the New York Times. Details about pricing and the launch date remain unknown.
CNN employees praised the streaming platform, with Executive Vice President Alex MacCallum saying it will give “audiences an even more convenient way to access CNN’s trusted reporting and original programming.” They were equally effusive before the launch of CNN+, with then-host Brian Stelter hailing it as “the evolution of video news and the start of a new era” and others predicting that 2 million people would subscribe at $60 per year in 2022 alone.
Those predictions turned out to be incorrect. Parent company Warner Bros. Discovery shut down CNN+, which attracted fewer than 10,000 subscribers and faced criticism for relying on paid users when the network was already grappling with poor ratings, just 23 days after its launch.
President Donald Trump has regularly criticized CNN, accusing the network of biased reporting and labeling it “fake news.”
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