CNN Sets March 29 For Launch Of Streaming Service

CNN will launch its new subscription streaming service on March 29.

The CNN+ service will be available for $5.99 per month, but early subscribers will get a 50% lifetime discount if they sign on in the first four weeks.

This won’t be CNN’s first venture into a separate online network, but it is their most expensive and highest profile effort. Such news figures as Chris Wallace and Kasie Hunt were hired for new daily shows, while Wolf Blitzer, Jake Tapper, Don Lemon, Anderson Cooper, Brian Stelter and Kate Bolduan are among the CNN personalities who will have shows on the platform.

See the service’s content slate here.

CNN+ also will be a test of the public’s appetite for another subscription streaming offering, as CNN is trying to distinguish its service as a mix of live and on demand news, lifestyle and documentary programming. Fox Nation, which launched in 2018 and also is priced at $5.99-per-month, also features network personalities, like a show hosted by Tucker Carlson, as well as true crime, entertainment and lifestyle programs.

On Thursday, MSNBC announced that it would launch a “hub” for the network on Peacock’s $4.99-per-month premium tier. Plans are in the works to fold in the existing MSNBC streaming channel, The Choice from MSNBC, to the new hub, which will make some of the cable shows featuring personalities like Chris Hayes and Joy Reid as next-day on demand offerings.

CNN will have a single app that will feature the linear network feed for cable, satellite and other pay TV subscribers, as well as access to CNN+ for subscribers to the streaming service.