Inside the implosion of CNN+

Mr. Morse, who oversaw all of CNN’s global digital operations, decided to act. In late February, and again in early March, he asked if his team could share their vision for CNN+ with Discovery officials before the merger was complete. He figured that making an early case was the best way to convince Discovery that CNN+ represented the future.

Both times, the requests were not granted. In transactions between major companies, executives are wary of running afoul of rules precluding “gun-jumping”: coordinating their business activities in the critical days before the deals close.

Then came an ominous sign. On March 14, two weeks before CNN+ was to start, Gunnar Wiedenfels, Discovery’s chief financial officer, appeared at a Deutsche Bank conference and declared that Discovery+ and WarnerMedia’s HBO Max would be rolled up into a single giant “blowout” mega platform.

Mr. Wiedenfels did not mention CNN+. After that conference, Mr. Morse asked again if his team could speak with Discovery; for a third time, no such meeting took place.