The Southern Ontario/WNY Radio-TV Forum » Cable News Network Signs Off For The Last Time With Emotional Farewell

RadioActive · December 6, 2022 9:56 am

I well remember when CNN was the biggest thing on cable, once ridiculed as "Chicken Noodle News" in its earliest days ('who would want to watch 24 hours of news?' wondered many critics) but then transformed during the Gulf War into a respected and credible source, with Bernard Shaw reporting live on the phone from Baghdad as explosions boomed in the background.

I never did quite get its sister station, HLN, or Headline News, which seemed like an inferior version of its bigger brother that really had no purpose. As of Monday, HLN is no more, a victim of CNN's new ownership, which has taken a giant scythe to the entire network, ending all live newscasts on the younger sibling.

It's been showing nothing but lots of crime-oriented shows for the past while anyway, so it's not a surprise the end finally arrived. Here's the final sign-off for the network, delivered by morning anchor Robin Meade, the self-described "kid from a middle of a cornfield".

I'll give them this much. As sad as it is to see so many people lose their jobs all at once, it's rare to let them say goodbye on air. You can read more about the end here or watch the video below. Nice that she gives so much credit to the behind-the-scenes crew, who also appear on camera.

turkeytop · December 6, 2022 10:08 am

HLN started out as a legitimate news channel but morphed into the crime channel.

Hansa · December 6, 2022 11:14 am

A number of cable channels have suffered from mandate drift. It's been a long time since A&E was actually an arts channel and educational channels like TLC and History now mostly carry reality shows and sensationalist pulp while music channels like MTV in the US or Much here can't carry a tune.

turkeytop · December 6, 2022 11:35 am

Stopped for the night, somewhere in Kentucky last year, on our way to Florida. I turned on the Weather Channel to see what tomorrow's driving conditions would be like.

What they were showing was a reality show, loosely connected to the weather. Truckers driving in winter.

haydenmatthews14 · December 6, 2022 1:53 pm

I never watched HLN very much. They did simulcast news from CNN. Reading from Wikipedia it says:

"On December 1, 2022, as part of cost-cutting imposed by new owner Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), new CNN CEO Chris Licht announced HLN would end all original live programming as of Tuesday, December 6, following a final abbreviated edition of [i]Morning Express which aired on December 5. Going forward, the channel will simulcast CNN This Morning during part of the previous Morning Express timeslot to fulfill contracts with cable providers requiring the channel to carry some news programming; true crime programming will air the rest of the day, with operations moved under the subdivision of Warner Bros. Discovery Networks responsible for Investigation Discovery."[/i]

Last edited by haydenmatthews14 (December 6, 2022 2:01 pm)

ED1 · December 6, 2022 2:17 pm

Here's the last 15 minutes of Morning Express if you're interested in watching. It shows some old footage of CNN Headline News.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMEudxHs3rs

Hansa · December 6, 2022 3:16 pm

turkeytop wrote:
HLN started out as a legitimate news channel but morphed into the crime channel.

A 30 minute headline newswheel stopped making sense on TV when that internet thing caught on. Why wait for the top or bottom of the hour for headlines when you can go to a news website (or social media) right now? Still works for drivers listening to the radio, for now at least, but useless on TV.

Hansa · December 6, 2022 3:20 pm

While we're talking about CNN, it still bugs me that in Canada we're subjected to CNN's US domestic service as a standard option rather than the much better CNN International

RadioActive · December 6, 2022 3:25 pm

I think in its day, HLN was the de facto choice for the background TV monitors in many airports. Then cell phones came in and no one is looking at those big screens any more.

betaylored · December 6, 2022 4:17 pm

Hansa wrote:
turkeytop wrote:
HLN started out as a legitimate news channel but morphed into the crime channel.
A 30 minute headline newswheel stopped making sense on TV when that internet thing caught on. Why wait for the top or bottom of the hour for headlines when you can go to a news website (or social media) right now? Still works for drivers listening to the radio, for now at least, but useless on TV.

CNN news anchor has an impressive number of followers on TikTok
https://twitter.com/pressgazette/status/1600184178485633025?t=yYRSE_v6tvBH0AKS9vYthg&s=19

Last edited by betaylored (December 6, 2022 4:20 pm)

Radiowiz · December 6, 2022 4:24 pm

Hansa wrote:
While we're talking about CNN, it still bugs me that in Canada we're subjected to CNN's US domestic service as a standard option rather than the much better CNN International

Just say "CNN International" into your Rogers Ignite TV remote. What comes up?

turkeytop · December 6, 2022 5:17 pm

RadioActive wrote:
I think in its day, HLN was the de facto choice for the background TV monitors in many airports. Then cell phones came in and no one is looking at those big screens any more.

Now, it's just hour after hour after hour rehashing old domestic murders from twenty or thirty years ago.

RadioActive · December 6, 2022 5:24 pm

Yep, it's killer programming.

Radiowiz · December 6, 2022 6:57 pm

So they really should do a name change and relaunch the channel.

paterson1 · December 6, 2022 8:51 pm

Yes there isn't much point keeping the HLN branding, when your network has no news and only showing crime shows. Agree with Radiowiz, they should relaunch.

CNN certainly hasn't been having a lot of luck lately. Closing down their streaming network after only a few weeks. A new morning show, CNN This Morning, that so far is averaging fewer viewers than it's predecessor New Day. The new morning show has under 80,000 viewers in the 25-54 demo. Staff layoffs, and the cancellation of original series or purchasing of documentaries for the main network. And finally ratings that for the most part are in the dumpster. During the recent mid terms CNN came in last in the ratings, even losing out to the OTA networks.

Another example of too many channels and not enough viewers?

MJ Vancouver · December 6, 2022 9:14 pm

paterson1 wrote:
Yes there isn't much point keeping the HLN branding, when your network has no news and only showing crime shows. Agree with Radiowiz, they should relaunch.

CNN certainly hasn't been having a lot of luck lately. Closing down their streaming network after only a few weeks. A new morning show, CNN This Morning, that so far is averaging fewer viewers than it's predecessor New Day. The new morning show has under 80,000 viewers in the 25-54 demo. Staff layoffs, and the cancellation of original series or purchasing of documentaries for the main network. And finally ratings that for the most part are in the dumpster. During the recent mid terms CNN came in last in the ratings, even losing out to the OTA networks.

Another example of too many channels and not enough viewers?

80,000? Not 800,000? In all the United States of America?

If I’m not mistaken KTLA gets more viewers in Los Angeles for their morning newscast.

paterson1 · December 6, 2022 10:01 pm

Yes under 80,000 for adults 25-54 the demo that the networks and advertisers covet. Under 400,000 for all viewers aged 2+. Indie Wire has the details...
https://www.indiewire.com/2022/11/cnn-this-morning-ratings-rough-start-1234778702/

Last edited by paterson1 (December 6, 2022 10:05 pm)

Mavridis · December 7, 2022 1:01 am

First, they're not changing the name. Most of the people who land on it have no idea it means HeadLiineNews. And even fewer know it's affiliated with CNN. They'd be erasing 2 decades of marketing.

Second, Morning Express didn't do much better than CNN's shabby morning numbers. The best they ever averaged was about 200k total. But usually, it was closer to 90k. Even so, it still made money. The show wasn't expensive and filled 7 hours of programming (even their music and graphics package was produced in-house). CNN just didn't want them digging into the new show's potential audience (and they needed to cut 3 billion in budget). The plan now is to keep going with HLNs focus on true crime. The mornings are slated to become a clearing house for Warner Bros owned series, as kind of a tasting menu for HBO Max. They tried it on Thanksgiving with a 4-day marathon of the West Wing and it was a giant success.

Last edited by Mavridis (December 7, 2022 1:02 am)

Hansa · December 7, 2022 1:23 am

Radiowiz wrote:
Hansa wrote:
While we're talking about CNN, it still bugs me that in Canada we're subjected to CNN's US domestic service as a standard option rather than the much better CNN International
Just say "CNN International" into your Rogers Ignite TV remote. What comes up?

Ah well you've got me, I cut the cord years ago.

Tomas Barlow · December 7, 2022 2:13 am

Hansa wrote:
turkeytop wrote:
HLN started out as a legitimate news channel but morphed into the crime channel.
A 30 minute headline newswheel stopped making sense on TV when that internet thing caught on. Why wait for the top or bottom of the hour for headlines when you can go to a news website (or social media) right now? Still works for drivers listening to the radio, for now at least, but useless on TV.

CTV News Channel seems to do okay.

turkeytop · December 7, 2022 10:04 am

Hansa wrote:
A number of cable channels have suffered from mandate drift. It's been a long time since A&E was actually an arts channel and educational channels like TLC and History now mostly carry reality shows and sensationalist pulp while music channels like MTV in the US or Much here can't carry a tune.

CNBC has become The Shark Tank Channel

Radiowiz · December 7, 2022 10:56 am

turkeytop wrote:
Hansa wrote:
A number of cable channels have suffered from mandate drift. It's been a long time since A&E was actually an arts channel and educational channels like TLC and History now mostly carry reality shows and sensationalist pulp while music channels like MTV in the US or Much here can't carry a tune.
CNBC has become The Shark Tank Channel

Actually CNBC in Canada does not air Shark Tank on CNBC.
That content was replaced with other content due to CTV holding onto Canadian rights to the program.
Welcome to CNBC Canada. lol
I believe they air a movie instead, but I am not sure.

Dial Twister · December 7, 2022 12:37 pm

paterson1 wrote:
Another example of too many channels and not enough viewers?

I suspect that the takeover by right-wing money has driven a great many CNN subscribers into the arms of MSNBC. I'm one of them.

RadioActive · December 8, 2022 6:39 pm

Big Cable Networks Like HLN Are Failing, and Media Companies Can’t Stop Their Decline

turkeytop · December 8, 2022 8:56 pm

Radiowiz wrote:
turkeytop wrote:
Hansa wrote:
A number of cable channels have suffered from mandate drift. It's been a long time since A&E was actually an arts channel and educational channels like TLC and History now mostly carry reality shows and sensationalist pulp while music channels like MTV in the US or Much here can't carry a tune.
CNBC has become The Shark Tank Channel

Actually CNBC in Canada does not air Shark Tank on CNBC.
That content was replaced with other content due to CTV holding onto Canadian rights to the program.
Welcome to CNBC Canada. lol
I believe they air a movie instead, but I am not sure.

Maybe it's in Florida I've noticed it. My wife watches Shark Tank for hour after hour, night after night, while I'm out on the patio with my radio.