Chris Licht was put in charge of CNN in May 2022 as a part of the restructuring ordered by parent Warner Bros. Discovery’s chief David Zaslav. Zaslav wanted to chop down expenses at the debt-laden company. Licht’s tenure and his efforts to cut costs have done more harm than good. (Click here for the 25 brands customers are abandoning.)
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Morning host Don Lemon’s sexist comments are the least of Licht’s problems. Lemon is getting special sensitivity training when he should have been fired.
Licht’s major trouble is that CNN’s ratings are dropping frighteningly. February is likely to be its worst month for audience size since June 2014, against the important 25- to 54-year-old age group. That means lower profits just when Zaslav is desperate for higher ones. Stars Anderson Cooper and Wolf Blitzer have been unable to help reverse the noise dive.
CNN’s audience trails those of rivals Fox News and MSNBC. This is particularly painful for a channel that invented 24-hour news. CNN was founded in 1980 and pioneered almost every major advance in the medium.
Licht’s current challenge is that he has no more talent or shows to shuffle. He almost certainly has his talent where they will do him the most good. He would need to overhaul the entire network on the chance it might do better. And that is a dangerous strategy Zaslav will not let him undertake.
Licht is trapped in a situation that TV networks have gotten into from time to time since the dawn of television. He has shows with low ratings. He can only cancel them for new programs he is willing to gamble will do better.
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