Fox Business host Charles Payne went down the list of why he thinks CNN+ quickly collapsed while appearing on a Friday episode of “Fox & Friends.”
CNN executives announced the network will end the streaming service’s operations April 30 after launching March 29. The platform had low subscription numbers and under 10,000 daily viewers.
“They spent so many millions on this thing, it was just an unmitigated disaster right out of the gate,” Payne said. “Streaming is huge, its estimated [that] global streaming is going to be about a $150 billion industry by 2026, but that’s a lot of players. I think the idea is that you’ve got to bring something fresh, something kinda unique and I think they started with a similar situation when we’re talking about wokeness … These are people who have harshly gone after half of this country for having your own political ideas.”
“You’re gonna launch a product and ask me to pay for that so I can hear someone call me bad names? Hell no! And you have all these old, boring people on there that we’ve been watching for long, that by the way, we were watching, that’s why they’ve got them in the first place,” he continued. “It was so nonsensical, and the logo sucked. How bad was that logo? I could’ve sworn it was a pharmacy I saw in Italy. I went ‘what the hell is this?'”
CNN’s upcoming president, Chris Licht, said the network will focus its investments on the new merger of its parent company, WarnerMedia, and Discovery, now known as Warner Bros. Discovery.
Earlier reports said CNN+ would merge with Discovery’s steaming service, Discovery+, if subscription numbers did not increase. (RELATED: New Report Exposes More Turmoil Within CNN Over Its Actively Imploding Streaming Service)
The network initially spent $300 million to launch CNN+, meaning the media conglomerate lost $9,375,000 a day. Executives expected the streaming service to have 2 million subscriptions in its first year and 15 to 18 million within four years.
The streaming service is expected to lose hundreds of millions of dollars from its original $1 billion investment. An executive reportedly expressed confusion as to why the platform launched before the WarnerMedia and Discovery merger.
CNN+ staffers are reportedly furious about the new announcement, with some allegedly expressing “total and utter shock” after leaving steady jobs at the network. Licht said the staffers will continue to receive payments and benefits for 90 days, then earn a six-month severance.