They can't monetize it and because they want people to read their paper instead (watch ads), they shut it down. At least that's what I make of this reading those tweets.

it'd be easier to push ads on-to the app (or the app to load the news article as a webview with ads in it).

^ more views, more money and probably more profits.

I doubt the hosting was the big cost, probably paying the journalists to pick the stories, write a quick summary, and get the alerts out as fast as possible. (Not a user of the app, but didn't seem like an automated AI type of thing.)

You are correct. It's not cheap to have 24 hour breaking news coverage globally. They did a great job on weeding out hoaxes too, it was a pretty remarkable service.

I believe the @breakingnews Twitter account existed well before the app. I imagine NBC News committed to the brand based on its Twitter following before it evolved into an app.

I don't see why editorial responsibilites couldn't be a little more decentralized to lower costs. Give a number of editors Breaking News-level access in their CMS and check a box when a story fits the criteria. But NBC isn't in it for the public good. The app probably simply didn't generate enough revenue to justify the costs.

> I can't see this getting more expensive than a few thousand $ a month

You aren't accounting for staff time. All software is a living organism, they can't just lay off the developers and expect it to keep working.