CNN anchor Jake Tapper emotionally told viewers on an episode of “The Lead” that Paramount Skydance is about to buy Warner Bros. Discovery, and potentially CNN, is involved after Netflix said it would not match Paramount’s $111 billion offer for WBD.
Netflix made a tentative deal to buy most of WBD, including HBO and the Warner Bros. movie studio, but not CNN. Paramount then made a counteroffer, and Netflix chose not to offer more. The U.S. and Europe will need to approve the purchase.
But according to reports, Paramount CEO David Ellison told the Trump administration that he would “make sweeping changes to CNN” if his company bought it. President Donald Trump spoke out about the drama in the media industry and said that “CNN must be sold.” Trump has been complaining about the network for a long time, saying that it is unfair to him.
When the news broke, Tapper came back from a break and told viewers that Netflix had dropped its bid and that Paramount was now the highest bidder for Warner Bros. and HBO. He also mentioned that Paramount wanted to buy CNN:
“So we have some breaking news in our national lead that affects everybody I’m looking at right now in the studio,” Tapper began.
“Moments ago, Netflix said it is declining to raise its offer for the purchase of Warner Bros. Studios and HBO, following the Warner Bros. Discovery board’s determination that Paramount, which is not just going for Warner Bros. Studios and HBO, but also the whole enchilada, including us here at CNN, Paramount has submitted a superior offer according to Warner Bros. Discovery’s board. As I’ve noted, Warner Bros. Discovery is the parent company of CNN,” Tapper said.
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Ellison’s Skydance bought Paramount and its subsidiary CBS last year. After the move, Ellison and Bari Weiss, who started the anti-woke Free Press, made a deal. Weiss got $150 million for the website and was named editor-in-chief of CBS News.
This also comes as CNN’s ratings have been plunging for well over a year while Fox News has been dominating viewership.
For the first hour of “The Lead” on Friday, Jake Tapper anchored from his dimly lit office rather than the CNN studio. He used the occasion to show viewers his vast collection of presidential campaign posters.
Tapper explained that the venue change was a network “experiment,” saying, “So you’re probably wondering what’s going on.”
“We thought we would bring you into the space where me and my team do our actual journalism and plan the show every day,” Tapper continued. “So here we are giving it a shot.”
Experimentation with format and digital offerings has become more prevalent as cable news networks struggle to adjust to a crowded media ecosystem that is increasingly dominated by YouTube, podcasts, and independent creators.
In an effort to stay relevant in a future that prioritizes digital media, traditional television networks are starting to borrow from those platforms.
However, as those efforts pick up speed, they are also highlighting the awkwardness of that experimentation, seeming to appeal to a younger audience that doesn’t seem to be interested in what they’re offering, and raising doubts about whether those tactics will actually be beneficial.
“It’s kinda like rearranging furniture in a burning house,” independent YouTuber Keith Edwards told Status, adding that while it’s promising that networks are testing new approaches, “It shows they fundamentally don’t understand why audiences are leaving.” What viewers are actually looking for, he argued, is authenticity—something that isn’t solved by sitting behind a “big podcast mic.”
Indeed, one veteran television executive told Status that the moves serve as “perceived acknowledgement of a different format existing,” which they called the “least authentic thing you could do.” Meanwhile, the format of cable news is “nowhere on the list of people’s problems with mainstream media,” they added.
