CNN to debut streaming service in 2022

CNN will launch a new streaming service beginning next year, the company announced on Monday. 

CNN+, a subscription-based service with the goal of creating digital streaming content for an online audience, is expected to be made available starting in the first quarter of 2022, according to Jeff Zucker, chairman of WarnerMedia News and Sports and President of CNN Worldwide. 

“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 as part of the announcement.

“As the most trusted and recognized name in news, CNN has unrivaled global reach, world class talent and a deep existing library of content including award winning series and films,” he added. “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 platform will feature a bevy of original, live, on demand and interactive programming as a standalone product separate from CNN’s cable news programing. 

To start, the platform will carry 8-12 hours of live, daily programming offering what the company said would be “topical deep dives and lifestyle content from some of CNN’s most prominent talent, as well as several new faces,” that will “live alongside a thriving community component for fans to connect directly with anchors and experts in real time conversations about the issues that matter most to them.” 

CNN+ will be made available through the company’s app, while CNN.com and the CNN mobile app will remain as a separate, free offering, the company said. 

CNN’s announcement comes just days after a report surfaced that the network had hired NBC News’s Kasie Hunt after she worked as a Capitol Hill correspondent, fill-in anchor, analyst and host for the network for nearly a decade. 

CNN did not respond to a request for comment on Hunt’s reported hiring.