Andrew Stiles writes for the Washington Free Beacon about a significant development in cable television news.
Paramount is closer than ever to acquiring CNN parent company Warner Bros. after Netflix declined to raise its bid for the media conglomerate. That’s bad news for the failing network’s stable of overpaid hacks, many of whom will be first in line for layoffs (or drastic salary reductions) once the acquisition goes through. Not surprisingly, the Trump administration has already signaled its support for the move.
Larry Ellison, whose Paramount Skydance empire recently took control of CBS News, met with White House officials late last year to discuss potential changes at CNN, including the possibility of “axing” some of Donald Trump’s least favorite on-air personalities. The president is particularly disinclined toward Erin Burnett and Brianna Keilar, according to the Guardian, but they aren’t the only partisan warriors with exorbitant salaries who might be targeted. Presumably some of the network’s most irritating contributors, like the former Obama official and Harvard Kennedy School lecturer Juliette Kayyem, will be the first to go. The mood at CNN is as expected. Staffers told their former colleague Oliver Darcy that the “panic … is off the charts.”
Paramount’s acquisition would precipitate “brutal cuts” at CNN. The network employs production teams that are “super bloated” compared to Fox News and MS NOW; headcount could be slashed by as much as 70 percent. Many of the network’s so-called stars are earning huge paychecks far exceeding their market value. Former CNN boss Jeff Zucker was notorious for “buying loyalty” with reckless generosity. No wonder they all cried when he was forced out in 2021 for sleeping with a subordinate.
Cutting the dead weight won’t be easy, as many of these anchor contracts are guaranteed. If they’re let go before their contracts expire, CNN’s new owner would still have to pay out in full. Paramount could try to renegotiate contracts at a lower rate, and some of the “talent” would likely accept, given their negligible value on the free market.
