Paramount Skydance’s hostile takeover bid of Warner Bros. Discovery puts CNN back into management limbo.
No management can work on a dead network.
Down the Drain?
There was some relief at CNN that Netflix was buying Warner’s studio and streaming businesses, since the cable network would not be a part of that deal. But that quickly changed on Monday with Paramount’s announced bid, which includes the cable assets that Netflix doesn’t want and, if successful, opens the possibility of a combined CNN and CBS News.
CNN lost two-thirds of its primetime audience since its high, and it continues to crater.
“The decrease, from roughly 1.3 million in 2016 to 553,000 now,” the Daily Mail reported Wednesday, fueled “rumors of a possible network sale — something CNN’s up-for-grabs parent company has vehemently denied.”
“The network’s daytime lineup has seen a similar decline as hosts such as Wolf Blitzer failed to move the needle, dropping from 752,000 to 433,000,” the U.K. tabloid continued, and “when compared to the same part of the year in 2021, the drops were even more pronounced—71 percent for primetime and 73 percent during the day.”
Why would anyone think Wolf was an attraction? There is the problem right there.
It’s not only that CNN is bad, but it’s also that streaming is taking over cable.
The longer this goes on, the more likely CNN will be sold. They lose money.
Billionaire Barry Diller approached Warner Bros. Discovery, WBD for short, about a possible deal last year, the Wall Street Journal reported. He’s not the only billionaire interested.
IF CNN fails, will anyone weep, besides over-paid CNN propagandists?