The sale of Warner Bros to Netflix does not include CNN. Photo / Getty Images
When Netflix announced a blockbuster deal to buy Warner Bros Discovery, among the elements not included in the purchase was a conspicuous one.
CNN, the cable news giant that has been associated with the Warner name for decades, was not included in the US$83 billion ($143.6b) deal.
CNN will anchor a spin-off company called Discovery Global, which will also include cable outlets TNT Sports, the Discovery Channel and other properties including Food Network and the Bleacher Report.
The economics are challenging for the stand-alone company, which Warner Bros chief executive David Zaslav said would be spun off by the third quarter of next year.
Cable TV viewership has been declining for years and CNN generally lags behind rivals Fox News and MS NOW (formerly MSNBC) in ratings.
But industry experts and a number of CNN staffers said they felt that the storied news channel could emerge stronger as a leading part of this new company because of what happened on Friday (local time) – and also because of what didn’t happen.
The good news
Jeremy Goldman, a senior director at the market research firm eMarketer, said that while CNN didn’t get “invited to the Netflix party”, this could be the best outcome for the cable news brand.
“CNN is no longer a political football, its 2026 budget is approved and growing and the spin-off gives the network the focus and stability to pursue its digital transition without being weighed down by streaming-first economics,” he said.
That apparent stability comes after a season of intense speculation that Paramount Skydance, the entertainment giant that chief executive David Ellison formed this year through the purchase of CBS owner Paramount, would end up with CNN if his company’s reported bid for all of Warner Bros Discovery prevailed.
Ellison, the son of billionaire Oracle co-founder and Trump ally Larry Ellison, was quick to counter commentators who cast his purchase of CBS as a conservative takeover of a major news brand. “I do not want to politicise our company in any way, shape or form,” he told reporters the day the deal to buy Paramount closed in August.
In October, however, he bought the conservative opinion and news website the Free Press for US$150 million and named its founder, Bari Weiss, editor-in-chief of CBS News. Weiss’ tenure so far has been marked by layoffs, shifting resources and a culture clash.
Unsettled staff
In that context, a Skydance Paramount purchase was a prospect that in recent weeks had unsettled some CNN staffers, several of them told the Washington Post, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorised to discuss Warner Bros Discovery’s business decisions publicly.
“Being swallowed by Paramount would’ve meant merging with CBS – obvious cuts, re-org, etc,” one CNN staffer said in an email. “This way we can continue on our own plan [and] define our own future.”
“There’s some short-lived relief I think that it wasn’t Paramount, and Bari won’t be our boss,” another staffer said.
But the business outlook ahead is still unsure. Tammy Madsen, a professor of management at Santa Clara University’s Leavey School of Business, called the CNN spin-off a “financial burden masquerading as a declaration of editorial independence”.
“Stripped of the studio’s cashflow, its value proposition shifts from a global news leader to a lean, politically charged target,” she said. “As a smaller, less complex entity, Discovery Global will be able to focus more attention on performance metrics for properties such as CNN. The question isn’t whether CNN can survive, but whether it can maintain its standards when every dollar of journalistic investment is visible and scrutinised.”
What Netflix news means
Staffers said they have faith in CNN chief executive Mark Thompson’s vision for the company, including a new subscription product that launched in October. In an email on Friday (local time) to staff, Thompson thanked them for their patience during what he called an “exhausting, momentous year” and tried to allay their worries about the future.
“I’ve been asked by many of you what today’s news means for us. And the answer is that it will enable us to continue to roll out our strategy to secure a great future for CNN by successfully navigating our digital transition,” Thompson wrote.
“Of course, I can’t promise you that the media attention and noise around the sale of our parent will die down overnight. But I do think the path to the successful transformation of this great news enterprise remains open.”
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