Cable news titan CNN is set to add a new player in the already-crowded streaming service marketplace with its CNN Plus service. Set to launch sometime in the first quarter of 2022, the new service “complements the core CNN linear networks and digital platforms to serve CNN superfans, news junkies and fans of quality non-fiction programming.”
Cable news titan CNN is set to add a new player in the already-crowded streaming service marketplace with its CNN Plus service.
There has yet to be any mention of pricing for the service since, according to The Verge, the company is still determining the price for CNN Plus.
Reports indicate that there will be no ad-supported version of the service at launch, and it will launch in the US only. CNN is expecting to hire 450 people over the next six to nine months to work on the service before launch.
In terms of how it will work, CNN will continue to have a single app where CNN Plus subscribers will be able to access CNN Plus programming. The app will include CNN’s linear television feeds, available to paid TV subscribers.
Paid TV subscribers can also subscribe to CNN Plus to “maximize their experience, they can also subscribe to CNN Plus, to access the full CNN Plus programming all in one place,” the company says.
CNN Plus subscribers will not have access to the TV feeds from CNN’s cable channels, since CNN Plus is to be a standalone direct-to-consumer product. To access both the TV content and CNN Plus content on the app, customers will need two subscriptions.
The streaming service is set to have original content, as well as live offerings, on-demand content, and interactive programming separate and distinct from CNN’s linear channels, the company says.
At launch, the service will have a “deep library of non-fiction, long-form programming.” This includes past seasons of CNN TV series, like Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown, Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy, This is Life with Lisa Ling, and United Shades of America with W. Kamau Bell.
New, original programmes are also slated to be added, with announcements to come later this year.