CNN announces more layoffs as it preps for a future beyond cable TV

CNN is cutting jobs and restructuring its news operations arsenic portion of ongoing efforts by nan company to boost its integer offerings and beryllium little limited connected its cablegram news channel.

The changes, arsenic reported by The Hollywood Reporter from a memo sent to unit connected Wednesday by CNN CEO Mark Thompson, see layoffs of “around a hundred” staffers, representing little than 3 percent of nan company’s workforce of much than 3,500 employees. The cuts follow layoffs successful 2022, including jobs mislaid erstwhile nan network’s streaming service, CNN Plus, was unopen down little than a period aft launching.

Today’s memo besides outlined Thompson’s plans to merge CNN’s TV news and integer news teams into a azygous “Global News organization” that will trim duplicated efforts and let “domestic and world news desks” to activity together for “big breaking stories.”

As news delivered done societal media and different integer sources continues to trim nan viewership of cablegram news channels, Thompson has been pushing to amended CNN’s integer news offerings since taking complete nan CEO domiciled past October.

Thompson besides emphasized a stronger dependence connected video, including nan motorboat of 2 further ad-supported streaming channels coming later this twelvemonth and nan creation of a caller TV Futures Lab that will beryllium responsible for creating streaming programming for CNN Max and processing caller ways to bring nan company’s news to different integer platforms.

CNN.com will besides motorboat its first direct-to-consumer subscription merchandise earlier nan extremity of nan year. Specific specifications astir nan caller subscription merchandise weren’t revealed, but it will beryllium portion of a wider postulation of paid offerings CNN has planned, including news, analysis, and manner content.

The memo besides addresses really artificial intelligence will perchance facet successful to nan early of CNN’s expanded integer offerings. “This effort will see a strategical push into AI to find really champion to safely harness this emerging caller exertion to service our audiences and present our journalistic goals much efficaciously and responsively.”