Warner Bros. Discovery, Which Ended CNN+, Says "Won't Join Streaming Subscriber Race"

David Zaslav, CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery [Photo by Reuters]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Hyunjin] Warner Bros. Discovery, which halted the news streaming service CNN+ just two weeks after its launch, announced that it will not compete to acquire subscribers in the streaming market.

According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) and others on the 26th (local time), Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav said during the earnings announcement, "We will not try to win the war of spending money directly on subscribers." Responding to the withdrawal of the CNN+ business, he emphasized, "As we saw last week, we will make quick and decisive decisions on specific items."

Warner Bros. Discovery is a newly launched merged company that completed the merger process on the 11th between WarnerMedia, the parent company of CNN, and Discovery, a cable channel operator. The company has announced plans to strengthen platform competitiveness by merging its streaming services HBO Max and Discovery+.

CEO Zaslav said that HBO and Discovery have content across various fields, adding, "Everyone at home needs diversity in content."

This statement from Warner Bros. Discovery comes amid growing concerns about the growth potential of the streaming market. Since Netflix announced on the 19th that its subscribers decreased for the first time in 11 years, the stock prices of streaming service providers including Netflix and Disney+ have continued to decline.

Gunna Wiedenfels, Warner Bros. Discovery Chief Financial Officer (CFO), said the company spends $23 billion annually on content and $5 billion on marketing, adding that they are reviewing these in detail and seeking cost reduction measures, with CNN+ being just one example.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.