Latest news with #AlexMacCallum
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
CNN to Launch New Streaming Product and Standalone Weather App
CNN is stepping back into the streaming waters with the launch of a new streaming product in the fall of 2025. Network CEO Mark Thompson officially confirmed the launch during Warner Bros. Discovery's TV upfront at Madison Square Garden in New York on Wednesday. No official name or pricing was presented for the streaming service, but it will be part of CNN's new All Access subscription service tier. This will be CNN's second attempt at launching a full-scale streaming product. In April 2022, WBD shuttered CNN+, which had been in existence for less than a month. The network says this new offering will have plenty of options for subscribers to engage with the network's journalism and original programming. Those options include a selection of live channels, catch-up features, and video-on-demand programming across the CNN mobile app, connected TV apps, and 'CNN has been leading and innovating in video-led journalism since its inception, and the expansion of our subscription offering to include streaming embodies that pioneering spirit,' said Alex MacCallum, executive vice president of digital products and services. 'We're giving audiences an even more convenient way to access CNN's trusted reporting and original programming-brought together in one intuitive, easy-to-use experience.' Existing CNN linear subscribers will be able to log in to the new streamer at no additional cost, and the network says it will still remain part of the Max-soon to be renamed HBO Max-platform. CNN introduced its All Access tier in October 2024, with a metered digital paywall on its website for U.S. visitors. Users are able to read a select number of stories, before having to pay a $3.99 subscription fee of $3.99 to unlock additional access, plus subscriber-only content. CNN+ was priced at $5.99 per month and $59.99 annually, and allowed access to 8-12 live daily shows, new original series, and a library of more than 1,000 hours of programming. It was reported to have had around 150,000 subscribers at the time of its demise. That previous service was supposed to intended to serve as a placeholder for the network's streaming ambitions and a revenue-generating option apart from its linear channel. Since CNN+ was shut down, the network has had a minimal streaming presence apart from a dedicated tab on the Max streaming service. Besides the new streamer, the network also announced CNN Weather as its first digital lifestyle product. The standalone app will blend weather and climate reporting with user-friendly features that offer real-time weather information. CNN received acclaim for its coverage of the Los Angeles-area wildfires in January. The network also received an Outstanding Breaking News Coverage Emmy nomination for its coverage of Hurricane Milton.
CNN
14-05-2025
- Business
- CNN
CNN's New Streaming Product Launching This Fall
May 14th, 2025 Streaming included in new All Access subscription tier, expanding CNN's existing subscription offering NEW YORK, NY – May 14, 2025 – CNN announced today that it will expand its current subscription offering with the launch of a new streaming product, set to debut first in the United States in fall 2025. The streaming product will provide a simple and centralized way for audiences to experience CNN's journalism and original programming. Subscribers will be able to choose from a selection of live channels, catch-up features and video-on-demand programming, across all platforms: the CNN mobile app, connected TV apps and 'CNN has been leading and innovating in video-led journalism since its inception, and the expansion of our subscription offering to include streaming embodies that pioneering spirit,' said Alex MacCallum, Executive Vice President, Digital Products and Services. 'We're giving audiences an even more convenient way to access CNN's trusted reporting and original programming—brought together in one intuitive, easy-to-use experience.' This new product will be part of CNN's new All Access subscription service tier. It will build upon the existing CNN subscription product that was launched in October 2024, which currently gives users unlimited access to articles and subscriber-only content. CNN's Pay TV linear experience remains available to Pay TV subscribers across all platforms. Current CNN Pay TV subscribers will also be able to log in and access the new streaming product at no additional cost. CNN will also continue to have a presence on Warner Bros. Discovery's Max streaming platform. For information and to sign up for updates ahead of launch visit Press Contacts
Axios
13-05-2025
- Business
- Axios
Scoop: CNN to launch new "CNN Weather" app
CNN plans to launch a new app, "CNN Weather" by the end of the year, Axios has learned. Why it matters: It's part of a broader plan by the network to invest more in lifestyle and subscription news products as part of its digital transformation under its CEO Mark Thompson. The network also plans to introduce a new cross-platform streaming service this year. Zoom in: CNN Weather will combine expertise from CNN's meteorology and climate teams in a mobile-first app that will provide targeted local weather forecasts and 24/7 coverage of major regional and national weather events, CNN's EVP of digital products and services Alex MacCallum told employees in a town hall Tuesday. Thompson plans to officially announce the news at its advertising presentation in New York on Wednesday, a source said. The app will be available for free to start, but it's expected to eventually be paywalled. A spokesperson confirmed the launch and provided a comment from MacCallum, who said, "As we build out a subscription portfolio and offering for our users, we are looking to launch a series of lifestyle-oriented products that become essential to people's everyday lives. Weather is a natural fit for our audience and for the CNN portfolio." Zoom out: CNN has been beefing up its climate and weather teams ahead of launch. The company, which has decades of experience covering breaking weather events, is considered an authority in emergency weather events, especially internationally. The company was one of the first major international outlets on the ground to cover the catastrophic flooding in Libya in 2023, as well as the Turkey-Syria earthquakes that same year. CNN is nominated for an Emmy for Hurricane Milton coverage from last year. The big picture: CNN's digital evolution has been rocky amid leadership and ownership changes. The network launched a subscription streaming app, CNN+, in 2022, only to have it shuttered weeks after launch by its new owners, Warner Bros. Discovery. What's next: CNN Weather is likely the first of many lifestyle and subscription products that CNN will experiment with as it looks to find its future beyond cable.
New York Times
13-05-2025
- Business
- New York Times
CNN's New Streaming Service Will Debut This Fall
CNN is getting ready to launch a streaming service. Again. Three years after CNN's parent company killed the hotly anticipated (and very expensive) CNN+ service shortly after it was released, the news network will introduce a new streaming product this fall that packages live and on-demand programming. Mark Thompson, the company's chief executive, told employees about the service in a town-hall meeting on Tuesday afternoon. Some of the details about the service remain unclear, including pricing and an exact release date. But Mr. Thompson said the new service would be tied to the company's recently introduced subscription product, which gives paying members unlimited access to articles posted on CNN is also taking pains to avoid alienating its most valuable customers: traditional cable distributors. Those customers will have free access to CNN's streaming service. Alex MacCallum, CNN's executive vice president of digital products and services, said in a statement that bundling the video service with CNN's existing digital subscription product will allow 'audiences to get the most out of CNN in one seamless and simple way.' Like most other news organizations, CNN is trying to find new sources of revenue as its traditional business declines. Earlier this year, Mr. Thompson said in an interview that the company's 'future prospects will not be good,' if CNN does not follow its audiences to new platforms 'with real conviction and scale.' Mr. Thompson, who previously led a digital turnaround at The New York Times, has focused his attention on CNN's digital business since he joined the company in 2023. Investments in the digital efforts are fueled, in part, by a $70 million investment from Warner Bros. Discovery, its parent company. Mr. Thompson hired Ms. MacCallum, a former executive at The Times, to lead the network's digital push, and is planning to add 200 digital-focused employees this year. The network laid off roughly 200 employees focused on its traditional TV operations earlier this year. CNN's new service won't look like CNN+, its failed $300 million splashy foray into streaming that was stuffed with well-known news and entertainment personalities. The new service will be more stripped-down, resembling the network's traditional cable experience, although not an exact replica. Subscribers will also have access to a library of original shows and documentaries.
