Friday 22 April 2022

What Really Happened To CNN-Plus?

 The basic idea for CNN-Plus was you'd subscribe to a service which gave you more news than regular CNN ($5.99 per month was the rate given).

How much 'more' news was this supposed to be?  That was never clear.

When this was first announced....I pondered over the value and who would be listening/watching.  

Their brand was something like Netflix or Amazon, which drew me  to wonder....if you were an average American, you already had USA-Today, your local news on the radio, and regular CNN, MSNBC, or Fox.  Maybe if you were consumed over news (needing an extra four hours a day to fill your schedule)....it made sense.  

Here's the odd thing though....all of this concept should have been done in 2000 to 2005, when the internet was young and people had fewer options.  Today?  It's too late.

I felt that CNN-Plus would survive for most of 2022....before failing.  Well....I got that totally wrong....it's dead as of this week.

So what lessen did we learn?  I'd say three lessons:

1.  There's more than enough news existing today.....than a normal guy needs.

2.  The fact that CNN was a bit to the left on political leaning?  Yeah, that probably did not help bring in new customers.

3.  What exactly can you put into a 'plus-news' element.....that doesn't already exist?  No one can clearly answer that problem.

Finally, to my one observation.....through all the years that I listened to Paul Harvey news....I came to realize the big stuff that you needed to know....came compacted by Harvey into a simple 12-minute 'discussion'.  Just plain....simple....facts.  Nothing complicated....nothing requiring four different people to sum up a 6-line story.  

2 comments:

  1. I quit TheNews® a half-century ago.
    Probably had something to do with reporters interviewing reporters about reports from other reporters.

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  2. That was always my problem with the Sunday talk-talk shows, where it was reporters trying to be experts on something. That whole format moved to regular daytime news, and it blew a hole in the idea.

    I just want plain regular news....like what you would get off page 1 of the USA Today or Wall Street Journal. If it's complicated....OK....but 75-percent of stories just aren't that complicated.

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