Pretty soon they will have to pay people to watch...................
they did that for years in airports. Didn't work there either
People already pay not to
In fact, people pay CNN about a dollar a month via their cable or satellite TV bill. A billion or so a year covers a lot of overhead without even running any ads. It’s like a restaurant being paid by a city just for opening the doors everyday regardless of whether the food is any good.
Of course, eventually lower ratings could get translated into reduced carriage fees - IF Comcast, AT&T, Charter, Dish, and the rest want to. How badly do you think they want to hurt CNN?