CNN is ready to enter the streaming era…again.
The Warner Bros. Discovery-backed news outlet said it would launch a new “All Access” subscription product for $6.99 per month, or $69.99 per year, starting October 28. The company billed the new service as the best way to interact with a burgeoning suite of new content built for audiences using mobile devices or connected TVs. Subscribers who sign up by January 5, 2026 can get the annual plan for a special introductory price of $41.99 for the first year.
“With this new subscription offering, our audience will now have access to the best of CNN across platforms, including multiple live stream channels, our signature video-led journalism and all articles on CNN.com and in the mobile app,” said Alex MacCallum, executive vice president, digital products and services, CNN Worldwide, in a statement. “It’s an essential step in CNN’s evolution as we work to give audiences the complete CNN experience in a format that reflects how audiences engage with the news today.”
The new launch is emblematic of CNN CEO Mark Thompson’s continued efforts to push CNN, a mainstay of traditional television into a new age even as news junkies increasingly turn to non-traditional video sources for both quick-hit information and in-depth reportage. The maneuver is crucial. Unlike many of its rivals, CNN has yet to develop a sustainable digital-video product. And while it experiments, competitors like NBC News and CBS News have launched content offerings that can be found everywhere from Amazon’s Fire portal to YouTube.
Subscribers to “All Access” — the product builds on a “basic” subscription tier that allowed for unlimited reading of articles on CNN and its mobile app, along with some subscriber-only content — will be able to stream a selection of CNN’s live U.S. and international programming; a library of CNN original series and documentaries; new content from CNN journalists; and exclusive live events. CNN said it would disclose a full schedule and content at launch.
In some ways, the new concepts echo one of CNN’s biggest recent initiatives: The company in 2022 debuted CNN+, a subscription-based streaming hub that executives said represented the best way to capture die-hard viewers with a mix of lifestyle and news programming that relied on personalities including Wolf Blitzer, Kate Bolduan and Kasie Hunt. Within a month of its launch, the service was shut down by CNN’s new parent corporation.
CNN unveils the launch as its parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery., readies itself for a split of its assets, with CNN being placed amid other traditional cable networks. As such, a streaming CNN product that was previously available on the company’s Max streaming hub is being removed, and there will likely be new considerations of whether to bundle it with other broadband offerings from the new corporate entity.