📡 CNN’s streaming struggle

Plus isn’t always positive… CNN+ is off to a rough start. The network that invented cable news launched its $6/month subscription streaming service two weeks ago. It went live days before CNN’s parent merged with Discovery to form Warner Bros. Discovery, and it raised questions that the launch may’ve been rushed. Sure enough, early numbers don’t look good:

• Tiny viewership: CNN+ is said to have fewer than 10K daily viewers, making its goal of 2M subscribers in its first year seem far-fetched. Disney+ got 10M subs on its first day.
• Limited programming: The app does not have live news (more on that in a sec). It does have a Jake Tapper-hosted book club and a show about Anderson Cooper navigating parenthood.
• Big cuts: Execs are reportedly planning to slash hundreds of millions from the project’s budget, which was originally $1B.

Stuck in the carriage… As more consumers ditch cable, media OGs have repackaged their content in apps to appeal to the cord-cutting crowd. Discovery+, Disney+, and HBO Max offer the programming those brands are known for — plus extra content (hence all the + signs). But CNN can’t include live news in its app because of “carriage contracts.”

• Carriage contracts give cable giants like Comcast and AT&T exclusive rights to live news from outlets like CNN — and prevent simulcasts on apps.
• Cable sold separately: If you subscribe to CNN+, you don’t actually get CNN. In contrast, HBO Max subscribers get all HBO shows and then some.

A DIY dilemma… Millions of small-biz merchants use Etsy’s ecommerce platform to sell everything from embroidered crewnecks to hand-sculpted vases. Now thousands of those vendors are on strike, closing up their shops for the week. They’re protesting transaction fees that are going from 5% to 6.5%. Just three years ago fees were half that.

Blinged-out face masks… circa: 2020. Etsy was the go-to marketplace in the early days of the pandemic, when mask scarcity at major retailers forced consumers to go the homemade route. As a result Etsy saw record profits and was the S&P’s second-best-performing stock in 2020 (after Tesla). But like other pandemic thrivers, sales are starting to cool as shoppers return to their pre-Covid routines and shopping habits. Now Etsy’s execs want to Amazon-ify the biz by widening its appeal:

• Etsy's CEO said it’s competing against some of the biggest retailers and needs to hike fees to reinvest in elements of its core biz, such as speeding up response times to sellers.
• Etsy’s sellers have complained that the rapid growth has also attracted a flood of wholesale and mass-produced vendors — which is against company policy.

• Gloom: JPMorgan Chase kicked off earnings season on a down note, reporting a 42% drop in quarterly profits. The bank surprised analysts by saying it would set aside $900M as cushion in case of a recession.
• Fly: Delta said historic travel demand was offsetting rising fuel costs as fliers booked their summer vacays. Delta took a loss last quarter but turned a profit in March, which sent shares of other airlines higher.
• Clicker: Amazon’s rebranding its free streaming service from IMDb TV to “Amazon Freevee.” Free ad-based streamers (think: Tubi, Pluto TV) have been gaining popularity amid subscription fatigue.
• Sheet: Bed Bath & Beyond’s turnaround is still turning. The retailer reported dreadful earnings all around, from a 12% decline in the all-important metric of “same-store sales” to an 18% drop in its online biz.
• OT: Lawmakers in California are considering cutting the workweek to 32 hours for companies with 500+ employees. It would be the first legislation establishing an official four-day workweek in the US, though some say it’s a longshot.

• Weekly jobless claims
• Earnings expected from UnitedHealth, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, US Bancorp, PNC Financial, Ally Financial, Ericsson, and Rite Aid

Authors of this Snacks own: shares of Amazon, Delta, Tesla, Disney, and AT&T

ID: 2126842