jpcamb

I guess it was only a matter of time until they saw $$ in getting into the streaming business.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/19/media...nch/index.html

Before they put up the paywall:New York (CNN Business)CNN is hiring hundreds of people and developing dozens of programs for a subscription streaming service that will launch early next year.

The new venture, called CNN+, was formally announced on Monday morning. It will exist side by side with CNN's existing television networks and will feature eight to twelve hours of live programming a day.
Jeff Zucker, the chairman of WarnerMedia News and Sports and president of CNN Worldwide, portrayed CNN+ as the evolution of video news and the start of a new era for the company."CNN invented cable news in 1980, defined online news in 1995 and now is taking an important step in expanding what news can be by launching a direct-to-consumer streaming subscription service in 2022," Zucker said in a statement.The executive in charge of CNN+, chief digital officer Andrew Morse, said "this is the most important launch for CNN since Ted Turner launched the network in June of 1980."That's because it is an urgent bid to keep up with changing consumer demands.
While tens of millions of people access CNN through a subscription to a cable or satellite television bundle, all cable -- and broadcast -- networks have taken a hit due to cord-cutting in recent years, and the popularity of products like Netflix has shown the growing appeal of streaming alternatives.
CNN can't just sell its current live programming via streaming due to lucrative and long-term deals with cable distributors. The company generates more than a billion dollars in profit annually, largely from cable subscriber fees and advertising.
So CNN is effectively building a parallel track, right next to its existing TV track, to serve both existing cable subscribers who want additional programming and customers who don't have cable at all.
Zucker framed it this way in his statement: "On top of a television offering that has never been stronger, which remains at the core of what we do today, we will offer consumers a streaming product that grows the reach and scope of the CNN brand in a way that no one else is doing. Nothing like this exists."
The new streaming service will launch in the first quarter of 2022. Morse said in an interview that it will have three components: Eight to twelve hours of live programming a day; original series, some brand new for CNN+ and some from the network's archives; and something Morse called an "interactive community."
He said the latter will give subscribers the ability "to engage directly with our talent and experts about the issues that matter most to them."
The price tag for CNN+ will be announced later, as will specific programs and the live schedule. The service will launch first in the United States and will roll out later in other countries. Producers have been piloting possible shows in recent weeks. Morse said the shows will be led by "some of CNN's most prominent talent, as well as several new faces," alluding to some planned hires.
Morse also emphasized that the daily programming will be differentiated from what CNN already produces on TV.
"It's not going to be a news headline service," he said, citing opportunities for "more deep dives" into subjects like climate change; space and science; and race and identity.
"You're also going to see things that surprise you," he added, hinting at the possibility that CNN anchors will be showcased in new ways.
CNN has about 4,000 employees, making it one of the largest news operations in the world. Morse said CNN is hiring about 450 people for CNN+, from producers to engineers to marketers.
The sizable number of job openings is a reflection of CNN parent WarnerMedia's investment in the product on the heels of the HBO Max streaming service launch last year.
"We are going to take a pretty big swing here, and the company's behind it," Morse said.
CNN+ will be entering a crowded environment of streaming news. The broadcast networks all have free streaming channels that act basically as news wheels, running a mix of live headlines and taped stories.
Morse argued that the broadcast networks "lack the resources" to launch something as ambitious as CNN+.
Fox News has a three-year-old streaming service called Fox Nation, but it is billed as an "entertainment" product, and is largely known for right-wing opinion programming.
Other rivals in the news space, like The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, have big subscription businesses, but they are text-based, not video-based. CNN+ will be "focused on video" at launch, Morse said, though "as we understand how customers are consuming the service, we can totally think about new kinds of formats," including podcasts and long-form articles.
Surveying this landscape, Morse concluded that CNN+ will be "very different from anything else that's out in the marketplace."
In the industry-wide race for subscribers, one of the billion-dollar questions has been: How many people might be willing to pay for news coverage?Times CEO Meredith Kopit Levien said earlier this year that The Times sees a market "of at least 100 million people who are expected to pay for English-language journalism."
When asked about the potential reach of CNN+ in the future, Morse said "we think, given our brand reach; given our credibility; given our trust; given the fact that we reach 290 million across linear and digital platforms globally, that there's a really substantial audience opportunity for us."

jpcamb

now if they paired this with Hulu and Disney+ instead of ESPN I can see it getting some more traction but as a standalone, I can't imagine someone willing to pay more than $1 a month for this let alone 4.99 where I would guess they will end up...

dex14

Different companies. If anything, it would be bundled with HBOMax.

DJariya

I watch a lot of CNN, but with so many streaming services out there, I don't know what audience they want to appeal. I have to think this is for a much older crowd.

A lot of their original documentaries are already on HBO Max like Parts Unknown and This is Life. Unless they plan to move them to CNN+?

It sounds like they want to give CNN an a la carte option for the news junkies who don't want cable and don't already have a live TV streaming service already.

E Unit

Zero need for this, especially a news service with a paying platform.

Giantrobo

Cnn+ looks too much like a bad word when you just glance at the screen.

dex14

Shannon Nutt

All the cable news networks are down in viewership, but I think CNN is down the most since Biden was elected. It will be interesting to see if there's any support for a paid CNN service. I mean, I guess Fox Nation does well enough (it's been around for a while), but Fox viewers are a little more fanatical than CNN viewers, because Fox News kind of has a monopoly on news from the right.

OldBoy

You know, found this CNN go app and wanted to see Story of Late Night. Avoid commercials as I still have in dvr, but this would have been convenient. They had like 2 of the 6 eps. Like wtf? Why not have them all? Anyway no need for this app as no one needs to listen and see yesterday’s news a week from now. That’s more for the History+ channel if they ever create it.

dvd-4-life

I thought HLN was supposed to cover news that CNN didn't cover but it has become totally useless so they will add CNN+ to the mix of unnecessary streaming services.

DJariya

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/bu...aa5dee56334940

Toddarino

My mother is gonna start bugging me any day now to help her find a way to get this. She watches CNN and MSNBC on Picture in Picture 18 hours a day.

E Unit

Another DOA service.

DJariya

As I posted in the HBO Max thread a few weeks ago, a bunch of CNN original documentaries was dropped from that service recently. I assume they are all migrating to this service. The only ones still on HBO Max are Parts Unknown and This is Life. I assume CNN + is going to take them all eventually.

E Unit

At least we’ll know where they come back to once CNN folds their service. I mean are these shows that much in demand they think people will sign up for them? I have no idea.

DJariya

I get your cynicism on this. I personally don't know the kind of demand there is for a CNN news and documentary streaming service, especially in these times with so much content to watch and so little time in the day. Streaming services can be a money pit if you don't utilize them enough. DC Universe died because it was way too niche and when WB created HBO Max, it became redundant.

There are a lot of news junkies and CNN is a worldwide brand name. We won't know how this is doing for at least 6 months to a year.

dex14

Not if CNN is sold off after the WB/Discovery merger…

DJariya

https://deadline.com/2022/03/cnn-plu...29-1234976017/


Here is a PDF link of CNN + launch original live news and magazine programming. That is aside from the library documentary content. This is not for the vast majority here in this forum unless you're a news junkie or really like their documentaries.

https://deadline.com/wp-content/uplo...NN-slate-1.pdf

Eric F

CNN+ has gone live and now it appears you can no longer Chromecast the CNN live stream. I'm not sure if it's behind a paywall or not but I'm not willing to pay to find out.

DJariya

CNN+ is on the newly updated CNN app on Apple TV and Amazon Fire. It doesn't look like it's on Roku yet.

Eric F

Android TV appears to be abandoned. The app hasn't worked for well over a year on any device based Android TV 10 or higher- so all the Google Chromecast and Nvidia Shields at least. And now that there is no chromecast support in the standard Android app I can't even cast it.

CNN is dead to me.

JeffTheAlpaca

I don't see it listed on my Samsung TV apps unless it is still early

DJariya

No support for smart TVs yet.

Shannon Nutt

I signed up for the $2.99 a month plan (which guarantees you a 50% discount for life - so if they raise prices later, you'll still only pay 50 percent of whatever the monthly price is). So far, I'm kind of impressed with it. They're more or less doing news the old traditional way, with lots of stories about lots of different topics, unlike, say, the network channel, which focuses primarily on one or two issues all the time (e.g., Ukraine, Trump, COVID). Another cool thing is that their daily shows don't have a time limit. One day it could be 20 minutes long, the next day 45 minutes, depending on what's being discussed.

I agree with DJariya though, that unless you're a news junkie, this is probably a pass. But I'm pleasantly surprised to say that the material on CNN+ is a little less partisan than what we see on the CNN network. It still leans left for sure, but it looks (for now at least) that the new head Chris Licht is trying to use the platform to return CNN to the "hard news" days of its past.

dvd-4-life

Are the shows repeated overnight or is everything new 24/7?