Roku drops iQIYI as CNN cuts staff under Skydance cost plan

What happened on Roku

Roku viewers have lost access to two streaming services in recent days, according to Cord Cutters News. The most detailed case concerns iQIYI, a Chinese platform known for Asian dramas, Korean and Thai series, anime and similar programming.

Cord Cutters News reports the removal followed a failure by the companies to reach an agreement, though the exact terms of the dispute are not confirmed.

CNN cuts under new ownership

Separately, CNN is going through significant staff reductions. Skydance completed its takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery in early October, creating a company that combines CNN with Paramount, CBS, HBO and other assets. The combined group carries roughly $80 billion in debt and has pledged to find $6 billion in operational savings over three years.

At CNN, part of that effort has involved voluntary buyouts for employees at vice president level or below with more than 15 years of service. According to Cord Cutters News, packages typically offered three weeks of pay for each year worked, capped at two years of salary. Several long-serving staff members, including camera operators with decades at the network and people involved in reviewing scripts and stories, accepted the offers. Their departures are expected in early December.

The company has also introduced a phased requirement to work from the office five days a week, which it says is meant to encourage collaboration between teams that previously worked apart. Further job cuts remain possible if the voluntary exits do not deliver enough savings. CNN continues to operate under its existing leadership in the meantime.

Viewers are trimming subscriptions

These platform losses come at a time when many households are cutting back on paid streaming.

That marks a clear change from the height of the streaming boom, when many homes kept five, six or more paid subscriptions at once. Repeated price rises on both ad-free and ad-supported tiers have made large bundles of services harder to justify, so many people now treat most subscriptions as optional extras.

How viewing habits are changing

In place of permanent subscriptions, many viewers have turned to free ad-supported streaming television, which offers content supported by advertising rather than a monthly fee. Others use rotation strategies, joining a platform just long enough to watch a specific season or film, then cancelling and moving on.

For Roku, losing services narrows the choice available on its devices at exactly the moment audiences are less willing to pay for multiple platforms. For networks such as CNN, the cost programme signals that consolidation in the media industry is now translating into visible changes in newsroom staffing.