The Cable News Network, based in Atlanta, Georgia, a multinational news-based pay television channel, is actively seeking more distribution partners for its upcoming subscription-based CNN+ streaming service, which will launch later this month. CNN is a WarnerMedia company owned by AT&T.
It currently has agreements in place with distributors like Apple and Roku, but it is hoping to get more before it opens. CNN+ is expected to launch in the United States on March 29, 2022, including originals, true crime shows, live daily news programming, food, and travel shows.
CNN Digital Chief Andrew Morse during an interview with Bloomberg at the South by Southwest festival. Amazon.com Inc., one of the world’s top distributors of streaming services through its Fire devices, was absent from Morse’s interview. For any new streaming service, securing complete distribution is essential, as CNN owner WarnerMedia is well aware. HBO Max, the company’s primary streaming service, launched without Amazon distribution, slowing its initial client growth.
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“We feel very confident we’ll grow a healthy subscriber base very quickly,” Morse explained, adding that the company expects CNN+ to be profitable in a couple of years.
It has also signed media personalities like Eva Longoria and Rex Chapman to host programs on the platform, in addition to its current on-air talents such as Wolf Blitzer, Don Lemon, Brian Stelter, and Anderson Cooper. CNN+, according to Morse, is the network’s most ambitious and expensive project to date. Its monthly membership is $5.99, with early-bird users receiving a “Deal of a Lifetime” discount.
Although CNN has been in difficulties since its president, Jeff Zucker, resigned after failing to reveal an intimate connection with coworker Allison Gollust.
Morse described Zucker’s departure as “sad and shocking,” adding that he had no knowledge of Zucker’s relationship with Gollust.
He stated, “The rules apply to everybody, We’ve all been doing our best to lead through a pretty difficult period.”
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The launch of CNN+ is overshadowed by the WarnerMedia-Discovery merger. The combined company will own three different streaming services — HBO Max, Discovery+, and CNN+ — that all offer related types of unscripted programming when the deal closes in the coming months.
Discovery, according to Morse, will want to make some changes. However, for the time being, the company is concentrating on getting the launch right.
What is CNN+ Streaming Service
CNN+ Streaming service, is a CNN subscription-based streaming service that will offer live and on-demand programming, will launch in the United States on March 29—but it will not include an ad-supported tier at the start of its operation.
“March 29 will be an important day in the history of CNN, and CNN+ will be a critical part of our future,” Andrew Morse, EVP, the chief digital officer of CNN Worldwide and head of CNN+, said in a statement.
What more to know about CNN+ Streaming Service
1. It will cost $5.99 a month, or approximately $60 per year to subscribe.
2. CNN reported that subscribers who sign up for the service during the first four weeks will receive a 50 percent discount off the monthly subscription price “for life,” as long as they continue to be subscribers.
3. At least eight live daily shows and at least eleven weekly shows will be available, as well as more than 1,000 hours of on-demand programming, which will include original series and movies.
4. For select interviews, subscribers can submit questions live or ahead of time. They also have the option to vote on which questions they want to be answered.
The possible Competition CNN+ might face
While CNN believes that the growth will increase over the years, Analysts, on the other hand, have questioned who will pay for CNN+ when so much news is freely available. Both CBS and NBC provide free news streaming services, not to mention all of the news available on YouTube.
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Morse argues that CNN is in a unique position to succeed. Because CNN does not compete with mainstream entertainment services and because none of its direct competitors in the news industry possesses the same resources as CNN,
“There is no other news organization on the planet like CNN,” Morse said.
