While much of the entertainment and media industry has expressed concern about Netflix’s acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, staff at at least one WBD brand are feeling good.
CNN staffers are breathing a sigh of relief that Paramount does not, for now, seem likely to control their company anytime soon. Paramount, which aggressively pursued WBD, had signaled that if it acquired the company, it would combine CBS and CNN, almost certainly resulting in staff cuts and major changes. CNN employees would’ve also had a new boss in CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss, who reportedly told people privately that she would have been in charge of the combined news unit.
Instead, as federal regulators weigh Netflix’s acquisition of WBD’s studio and streaming business, WBD will continue spinning off its cable assets, including CNN, into a new company, Discovery Global.
CNN staff remain apprehensive about the long and medium term, as linear television continues to rapidly decline in viewership. A spun off CNN could be purchased by any number of companies with far more partisan views than Weiss. Still, some some inside the building who spoke with Semafor on the condition of anonymity said the WBD-Netflix news had been greeted with relief. Many CNN staff had feared reporting to Weiss, a relatively inexperienced television executive and the head of the conservative Free Press.
In a note to staff on Friday shared with Semafor, CNN CEO Mark Thompson said that the spinoff would “enable us to continue to roll out our strategy to secure a great future for CNN by successfully navigating our digital transition,” noting that the head of the newly-spun-off company, Gunnar Wiedenfels, had agreed to “increased investment” in CNN and a continued promise of editorial independence.
“I know this strategic review has been a period of inevitable uncertainty across CNN and indeed the whole of WBD,” Thompson said. “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. So let’s remain focused on rolling out our strategy as quickly and as well as possible, and let’s continue to deliver the best journalism to our audiences everywhere on TV, streaming, digital and every other platform we have.”