Mark Thompson Says New CNN Streaming Service Is in the Works as Channel Sets Major Restructuring
CNN on Thursday announced major layoffs and a new strategic plan, in a post-election maneuver meant to help transform the cable channel during a challenging time for the media business.
CEO Mark Thompson announced the news to staff Thursday morning, adding that CNN would cut about 6 percent of jobs, or about 200 people. He adds that the company is actively recruiting for hundreds of new roles, with about 100 expected to be filled in the next few months, thanks to a $70 million investment from parent company Warner Bros. Discovery.
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“The changes we’re announcing today are part of an ongoing response by this great news organization to profound and irreversible shifts in the way audiences in America and around the world consume news,” Thompson wrote.
Among the changes are a new streaming service, as CNN plans “to develop a new way for digital subscribers at home and abroad to stream news programming from us on any device they choose,” Thompson wrote. “It’s early days but we’ve already established that there’s immense demand for it not just in America, but across much of the world.”
He noted that CNN will “continue to have a strong presence on Max, but we also believe it is not a complete answer to the future of the great linear CNN experience.”
CNN also plans to grow its digital business with new subscriber offerings based around “need-to-know” news presented in “compelling formats,” paired with “want-to-use” offerings “anchored by lifestyle journalism where CNN is uniquely positioned to win.”
And he said that CNN would unveil a new domestic TV schedule Thursday, in a move “intended to strengthen our domestic schedule throughout the day and deliver international programming to a wider audience around the world.”
“We’re able to achieve that with this new schedule, which will be shared and distributed broadly later today, while also placing our production costs on sustainable footing to match the changing economics of linear television platforms,” he added. “Like the rest of our industry, we have to respond to these economics if we’re to maintain high-quality services for our loyal existing audiences.”
Thompson joined CNN last year following the firing of Chris Licht. The former CEO of The New York Times Company has been tasked with turning around the venerable cable news channel, and in particularly determining a digital future for the business.
At the beginning of 2024 he outlined a new organizational structure and outlined his broad thoughts about where CNN needs to go. And over the summer CNN cut around 100 jobs in preparation for its digital switch. It launched a digital paywall in October in a major strategic shift.
You can read his memo, below.
Dear All,
Two weeks ago, at our first town hall of 2025, I told you that I knew there was plenty of anxiety at CNN about future organizational change and that, as soon as we were able to go into detail about the changes, we’d do it right away. That moment has arrived and today you’ll be hearing not just from me but from several of my senior colleagues about the next phase of change at CNN.
The changes we’re announcing today are part of an ongoing response by this great news organization to profound and irreversible shifts in the way audiences in America and around the world consume news. From linear to digital, fixed to mobile, traditional long-form broadcast to any number of different formats and use-cases. It isn’t and can’t be a single set of changes but a process of investment, experimentation and adaptation that will last years. Our objective is a simple one: to shift CNN’s gravity towards the platforms and products where the audience themselves are shifting and, by doing that, to secure CNN’s future as one of the world’s greatest news organizations. America and the world need high quality, fair-minded, trustworthy sources of news more than ever. This difficult and sometimes painful process of change is the only way to make sure we can still provide it.
Today’s news is first and foremost about investing in that future. Yes, there are job-losses – around 6% of the current CNN workforce will be impacted – but we don’t expect total headcount to fall much this year, if at all. That’s because of the $70 million we’re investing in our digital plans and the many new jobs it will pay for. Some of that money’s going in product and tech, but a lot is also going into new high-quality journalism and storytelling. It’s what we stand for. It’s also the heart of every successful digital news strategy. At the same time, I know that whatever the total number of job losses, the impact on the individuals involved can be immense. The process of change is essential if we’re to thrive in the future, but I both acknowledge and regret its very real human consequences.
My colleagues will go into more detail about the changes, but here is a summary of key headlines:
STREAMING
CNN Max has been a tremendous resource for us. We have been able to get our journalism and storytelling content in front of Max’s 110 million global subscribers and test and learn to see what programming a mass streaming audience engages with, spends time with, and returns time and time again to the service to consume. We’ll continue to have a strong presence on Max, but we also believe it is not a complete answer to the future of the great linear CNN experience.
Today, I can announce that we plan to develop a new way for digital subscribers at home and abroad to stream news programming from us on any device they choose. It’s early days but we’ve already established that there’s immense demand for it not just in America but across much of the world. We’ll have more to say about this new digital product in the coming months, including content plans and how we will work with our existing and future distribution partners to bring this to market.
DIGITAL
The new Digital Products & Services organization has accomplished a great deal in the short nine months since Alex MacCallum joined CNN to lead it, including establishing our first direct-to-consumer subscription product, launching vertical video carousels on all of our digital platforms, refreshing the whole CNN.com site, launching the Digital Magic Wall and the live commentary module, creating new innovation teams and building new data analytics and digital business support capabilities, and much else besides.
Now, in addition to the work of developing that new streaming product, Alex will announce a set of further initiatives, including a further major pivot to digital video, the development and launch of CNN’s first lifestyle-oriented digital product, working with News to innovate in our multimedia storytelling capabilities, and creating new premium digital ad experiences to drive sustainable and scalable advertising revenue.
She will also detail a restructure of her leadership team, to include the creation of new Content and Transformation, Audience and Features teams to round out her direct reports. With this, we are also posting many new roles at all levels of the organization as part of Warner Bros. Discovery’s investment in this strategic work and CNN’s path forward. Recruiting the right people will take some time, but we hope to open up and fill at least 100 new posts in the coming months to help execute the new plans.
A FRESH NEW TV SCHEDULE
Innovation also touches our traditional TV experience. For many years ahead and, notwithstanding our streaming plans, the most economically significant expressions of the CNN TV experience will be our two great television services: CNN, the historic US cable channel that enters its 45th year in 2025, and CNN International. Today, we are announcing refreshed schedules for the weekday domestic lineup that bring energy and competitive edge to our delivery. A revised international schedule will follow in a few days’ time.
These changes are intended to strengthen our domestic schedule throughout the day and deliver international programming to a wider audience around the world. We’re able to achieve that with this new schedule, which will be shared and distributed broadly later today, while also placing our production costs on sustainable footing to match the changing economics of linear television platforms. Like the rest of our industry, we have to respond to these economics if we’re to maintain high quality services for our loyal existing audiences.
We’re also streamlining and adjusting some important aspects of how we produce our TV programming going forward. The changes we made in morning programming a year ago both improved performance and reduced costs. Building on that successful experiment and with similar objectives in mind, we now plan to change the way we deliver programming elsewhere in the schedule. Starting today, Eric Sherling and John Davies will walk colleagues through these changes.
FURTHER MODERNIZING OUR NEWSROOM
In 2024, our newsroom took on the complex and challenging task of merging into a single integrated organization, breaking down silos between separate digital, TV and international newsrooms. After just a few months of the new structure, we’ve seen measurable progress and clear signs that our new Follow the Sun structure is working. We’ve seen it help us capture global breaking news as it happens and deliver the resulting content simultaneously across multiple formats and platforms. The newsroom has also risen to the challenge of providing outstanding distinctive subscriber-only content to support our new digital subscription business as well as playing a key role alongside Digital Product & Services in developing our plans for verticals and features.
Today, we’re making further announcements in the Global News organization. We’re creating a new Video News Editorial organization as the next stage in our effort to coordinate and strengthen our video capabilities across all platforms, including linear TV. We’re transforming our DC bureau to align it with our new multiplatform model, which we introduced elsewhere last summer. We’re integrating CNN en Espa?ol more closely into CNN’s main Global News operation. We’re opening an important new senior role in the news organization and welcoming some outstanding new leaders – including Phil Rucker from the Washington Post as SVP Editorial Strategy and News and a new London Bureau chief you’ll hear about shortly.
JOB IMPACTS
As I noted at the top, some of today’s announcements mean significant new job opportunities at CNN, but others will lead to the loss of some valued colleagues. That too is an unwelcome but inevitable part of the change process. We will aim to contact every colleague who will be impacted by these changes as soon as we possibly can – and will of course help and support them in any way we can thereafter. In the year and a quarter since I arrived at CNN, we’ve had an incredible period of news and have already made significant progress on our transition to the future. I am grateful to every one of these colleagues for everything they’ve done for this company in my time and the years before.
MOVING FORWARD
2025 has only just begun and yet we’ve already seen more than enough news at home and abroad to be reminded just how important it is that this great news organization succeeds. Given our brand and reputation, given the incredible talent at our disposal, given that spirit of innovation and commitment that has always been a hallmark of CNN, I truly believe that we can do just that.
Thank you for everything you do for CNN and for the audiences across America and around the world that depend on us.
Mark
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