[Steely Tom]

I don’t think they care about ratings and I don’t think their operating money comes from ads.

[ModelBreaker]

“Last May, CNN averaged about 1.12 million viewers during the primetime hours, according to Variety. That figure has dropped to just 859,000 this May, a whopping 23 percent decrease.”

They were pretty much 24/7/365 anti-trump a year ago too and a year before that. So I’m not sure a change in anti-trumpness is the thing that caused the ratings drop.

[bigbob]

I've posted this so much I'm tired of trying to educate FReepers who just want to listen to their echo chamber, but you're right. Carriage fees constitute around 50% of CNN's revenue, so they can make half their income by just showing up. The web and other country franchises are lucrative too. Programming and ratings is only important when renewal time comes with the big operators, who will use lower ratings as a lever to try to get a lower carriage fee. But CNN has the better leverage because the cable/satellite companies know they have to have them.

Here's how your monthly cable or satellite bill pays for all kinds of content you probably don't want:

[Prolixus]

Agreed. It’s more likely CNN is funded by the CIA with earnings from the CIA’s heroin/fentanyl sales.