CNN+ was always doomed because it had a "powerful skeptic" in Discovery boss David Zaslav
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Zaslav didn't like the CNN streaming service that was mostly the brainchild of ousted CNN president Jeff Zucker, but he couldn't have a say on CNN+ until the Warner Bros.-Discovery merger was completed. "The service had a powerful skeptic: David Zaslav, the chief executive of Discovery, who was on the verge of completing a merger with WarnerMedia that would put him in control of the news network," reports The New York Times' Michael M. Grynbaum, John Koblin and Benjamin Mullin. "Executives at Discovery, wary of antitrust rules, were constrained from advising their counterparts at CNN until the merger was done. CNN+ had lost its champion when Mr. Zucker left in February because of an undisclosed romantic relationship with a colleague. But Jason Kilar, the WarnerMedia chief executive, forged ahead anyway, launching the streaming platform on March 29 to the frustration of the Discovery leadership. It quickly became apparent that Mr. Zaslav had a very different view on digital strategy. On the morning of April 11, the first business day of Discovery’s ownership — and 90 minutes before its WBD stock even went live on Nasdaq — JB Perrette, Discovery’s global head of streaming, convened a meeting with CNN executives. Mr. Perrette had a message: Marketing of CNN+ was to be suspended, pending a formal review of the business, three people familiar with the conversation said. Executives at Warner Bros. Discovery wanted to merge its other subscription platforms — Discovery+ and HBO Max — into one giant streaming service. They were not convinced that a niche product like CNN+ could be viable on its own." Discovery, which owed $55 billion from the merger, also didn't want to spend another billion on CNN+
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TOPICS: CNN+, CNN, Chris Wallace, David Zaslav, Greg Gutfeld, Trevor Noah, Cable News, Discovery, Warner Bros. Discovery
