CNN+ Shutting Down After Less Than a Month: Report

That’s it for the fledging CNN+ streaming service, which launched less than a month ago on March 29, according to a report from Variety. According to the NY Times, the service will officially cease operations on April 30, one day after the month anniversary of its launch.

Shortly after the merger of Discovery and WarnerMedia cast doubt on the future of the struggling service, it seems like CNN’s digital outlet won’t be long for this world. This comes hot on the heels of the long in-development service struggling to find an audience, which was reported to be fewer than 10,000 paid users daily.

The news was officially announced to staff today, though there currently isn’t news about what will happen to the service’s content. Previously, it’s been floated that content from CNN+, which does not include a live feed of CNN, could be either packaged of folded into the steadily growing HBO Max streaming service, which is also owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Given HBO Max is strong for movies, fiction series and reality shows, but a little lighter on “hard news” type documentaries, it seems like this might be a smart move for the company as they continue to restructure their approach to both streaming content in general, and CNN in particular.

And as noted by (checks source), uh, CNN, new Warner Bros. Discovery chief David Zaslav has shown interest in housing all the new company’s content — CNN+, HBO Max, and Discovery+ — under one roof.

Backing up that quote during an all-hands with CNN staff, new chief Chris Licht said, “This decision is in line with Warner Bros. Discovery’s broader direct-to-consumer strategy. In a complex streaming market, consumers want simplicity and an all-in service, which provides a better experience and more value than stand-alone offerings.”

By contrast to CNN+’s tiny user base (other reports have pointed to around 150,000 sign-ups, though most likely with less active users than that), the channel is still a behemoth with 773,000 viewers a day, and is a cornerstone of most cable packages. That, in essence is why CNN+ is not working at full capacity: the live channel is still tied up with cable packages, and though years down the road it’s possible that CNN+ could have folded in a live feed once those contracts expire, now it looks like that won’t happen — as least for CNN+ in its current form.

As for subscribers who have already paid for a CNN+ package, they will receive “prorated refunds of subscription fees,” versus being automatically folded into a new service .Additionally, CNN+ leader Andrew Morse is leaving Warner Bros. Discovery as part of the changeover, making him one of the many executives to either be let go or leave the company after the merger.