CNN announced today it will shutter its all-business cable news channel, CNNfn, even though the channel made a profit for the first time last year in its nine-year history. The story, broken by the Associated Press, suggests part of the reason was the loss of some distribution in the U.S. market. Meanwhile, News Corp., owner of the Fox brand, is apparently mulling over the idea of starting up its own all-business news channel. Fox News, of course, also has the story about CNNfn's demise.
The memo from a senior CNN boss to employees is online.
The AP story suggests that CNN also has some changes in mind for Headline News (perhaps that's why I saw HN's prime-time anchor Rudi Bakhtiar reporting from Washington on CNN the other day. hmm.), a cable channel which is licensed for distribution in Canada.
Neither CNNfn nor Fox News are, so far, licensed for distribution on Canadian cable or satellite distribution systems.