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CNN to launch CNN+


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I decided to sign up for the half-price deal out of curiosity, I can lose a few bucks.

 

The problem is there's not much there there at the moment, at least for live content, and it really feels like this was Zucker's attempt to try and build a streaming buttress around his kingdom.

 

Lots of on-demand stuff though which I'd probably go through if I was bored on HBO Max, but paying extra for it?

Edited by mightynine
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Not gonna lie, streaming cable news *at a subscription* when they have all their partisan shit up on YouTube for free seems kind of redundant to me. Not that you shouldn’t try it out if you want to. I’d love to hear another opinion on this, though.

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3 hours ago, abcnnbcbs said:

Not gonna lie, streaming cable news *at a subscription* when they have all their partisan shit up on YouTube for free seems kind of redundant to me. Not that you shouldn’t try it out if you want to. I’d love to hear another opinion on this, though.

 

I pay for cable and have been looking to cut it recently so this was one things I was kind of surprised about. I thought you'd get access to the CNN platform considering you're now paying for it but you're only paying for the extras. I signed up because I really like their documentaries with CNN Films. I know some have said they're on HBO Max but I don't think all of them are. So there's some I've been wanting to see.

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  • 2 weeks later...

CNN+ struggles to lure viewers in its early days, drawing fewer than 10,000 daily users

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/04/12/cnn-plus-low-viewership-numbers-warner-bros-discovery.html

 

Quote
  • Fewer than 10,000 people are using CNN+ on a daily basis two weeks into its existence, sources said.
  • The paltry audience casts doubt on the future of the application following the recently completed combination of Discovery and WarnerMedia into Warner Bros. Discovery.
  • Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav hasn’t commented publicly on CNN+’s long-term future. He told CNBC in February he’d need to see how the application performed before deciding on any next moves.

 

Not a good start.

 

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4 hours ago, NYTV said:

Most likely a folding of CNN+ and Discovery+ into HBO Max

 

Or a folding of CNN+ into either Discovery+ or HBO Max, so that it can be done sooner.

 

Merging Discovery+ and HBO Max will be a significantly more complicated endeavor for business, marketing, and technical reasons. The hardest part of folding CNN+ into either of them will be deciding which of them gets it.

 

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1 hour ago, Newsjunkie24 said:

Probably the shortest lived streaming service in happens if it does get merged.  Probably the next Quibi.

 

I can't compare this to Quibi; this was more like the old guard throwing a temper tantrum they were getting new management and trying to throw them a headache right at the start which was dealt with when Zucker was terminated but his minions remained. You definitely get the feeling that Chris Licht took one look at this and said 'that's done' when he gets into the office.

 

It's more comparable to Seeso, NBC's comedy app which always seemed to be a niche plaything and was never going to do much for NBCU's streaming ambitions, along with NBC Sports Gold and its 10 esoteric sports plans where you had to pay for access to soccer, cycling, rugby and/or NBC Sports Philly debate shows, each separately.

 

It's also still the first month, so however customer service has to deal with it will likely be with pricing credits, which I feel like what will happen with HBO Max involving Discovery+'s yearly subscribers (or a refund for those who authenticate HBO Max with their pay-TV provider). There just isn't much of a base to involve much complication.

 

As for Discovery+, HBO Max has just had major updates which use the native players for Apple/Google/Fire TV and Roku so at least there it'll just be a matter of adding the titles and appropriate D+ verticals, along with updating the Turner cable apps under Discovery's "GO" cable app brand. Compared to two years ago HBOMax is a joy to use now.

 

And another minor thing, Discovery is likely to FINALLY kill Turner's Stretch-o-Vision for what little SD content remains on TNT and TBS.

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12 minutes ago, mrschimpf said:

I can't compare this to Quibi; this was more like the old guard throwing a temper tantrum they were getting new management and trying to throw them a headache right at the start which was dealt with when Zucker was terminated but his minions remained. You definitely get the feeling that Chris Licht took one look at this and said 'that's done' when he gets into the office.

 

It's more comparable to Seeso, NBC's comedy app which always seemed to be a niche plaything and was never going to do much for NBCU's streaming ambitions, along with NBC Sports Gold and its 10 esoteric sports plans where you had to pay for access to soccer, cycling, rugby and/or NBC Sports Philly debate shows, each separately.

 

It's also still the first month, so however customer service has to deal with it will likely be with pricing credits, which I feel like what will happen with HBO Max involving Discovery+'s yearly subscribers (or a refund for those who authenticate HBO Max with their pay-TV provider). There just isn't much of a base to involve much complication.

 

As for Discovery+, HBO Max has just had major updates which use the native players for Apple/Google/Fire TV and Roku so at least there it'll just be a matter of adding the titles and appropriate D+ verticals, along with updating the Turner cable apps under Discovery's "GO" cable app brand. Compared to two years ago HBOMax is a joy to use now.

 

And another minor thing, Discovery is likely to FINALLY kill Turner's Stretch-o-Vision for what little SD content remains on TNT and TBS.

 

I wonder how HBO Max and Discovery+ subscribers will react when the services are merged. We subscribe to Discovery+ as we like so many of Discovery's, HGTV, Food Network etc.'s programming as well as the cheaper price. HBO Max subscribers don't want to pay for more reality/lifestyle programming, and I'm sure Discovery+'s subscribers feel the same way. Some fans are saying "Don't raise HBO Max's price".

 

How much SD content is left on TBS and TNT? Older movies and Charmed reruns?

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22 minutes ago, Newsjunkie24 said:

How much SD content is left on TBS and TNT? Older movies and Charmed reruns?

 

TBS is airing reruns of old ABC WB sitcoms Family Matters and George Lopez every morning.

 

TNT is airing older episodes of Supernatural and the aforementioned Charmed in the mornings, as well.

Edited by Georgie56
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2 minutes ago, Georgie56 said:

 

TBS is airing reruns of old ABC WB sitcoms Family Matters and George Lopez every morning.

 

TNT is airing older episodes of Supernatural and the aforementioned Charmed in the mornings, as well.

 

Thanks. I knew TBS stopped airing Seinfeld reruns some time ago. It seemed like it was on there forever.

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2 hours ago, Newsjunkie24 said:

 

Thanks. I knew TBS stopped airing Seinfeld reruns some time ago. It seemed like it was on there forever.

 

Seinfeld had transitioned to HD masters with new formatting (cropped in some areas, originally unused portions of the film image in other areas) by the time it left TBS.

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I went ahead and cancelled CNN+ before I was charged another month of $3. Haven’t opened it since the first day. 
 

This should be part of HBO Max, honestly and I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s not there quickly. Would give it a news presence and you could pretty easily make a linear stream out of it like NBC News Now and the like with the occasional live programs mixed in with library/pre-taped stuff.
 

But Zucker wanted to try and make his own little kingdom isolated from the rest and, well, whoops. 

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2 hours ago, mightynine said:

This should be part of HBO Max, honestly and I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s not there quickly. Would give it a news presence and you could pretty easily make a linear stream out of it like NBC News Now and the like with the occasional live programs mixed in with library/pre-taped stuff.

 

A number of cable providers automatically give you HBO Max if you're subscribed to linear HBO (aka the HBO cable channels) through them. Since anyone such subscribers have to log in via their provider login (in my case, my Xfinity account), it should be easy to provide the same linear streams that CNNgo has (CNN, HLN, and CNNI).

 

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5 hours ago, mightynine said:

This should be part of HBO Max, honestly and I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s not there quickly. Would give it a news presence and you could pretty easily make a linear stream out of it like NBC News Now and the like with the occasional live programs mixed in with library/pre-taped stuff.

I wouldn't mind a suite of channels like Peacock and Pluto already have, so you'd have a channel of "Parts Unknown" next to ones with "Larry King Live", "Style with Elsa Klench" and "Pinnacle" episodes, or "On This Day" rolling news from a moment in history. And of course, "Forensic Files" and old CourtTV content, since Ion Mystery now draws less from that archive. There was so much potential with this service that was wasted from day one for more shows about current politics, media criticism and 'other news' content which should just be on regular CNN.

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42 minutes ago, mrschimpf said:

I wouldn't mind a suite of channels like Peacock and Pluto already have, so you'd have a channel of "Parts Unknown" next to ones with "Larry King Live", "Style with Elsa Klench" and "Pinnacle" episodes, or "On This Day" rolling news from a moment in history. And of course, "Forensic Files" and old CourtTV content, since Ion Mystery now draws less from that archive. There was so much potential with this service that was wasted from day one for more shows about current politics, media criticism and 'other news' content which should just be on regular CNN.

 

So more similar to how services like Pluto and Peacock have? Maybe if Warner Brothers Discovery launches a FAST service, they could put channels like the ones you suggested. Both Warner and Discovery lacked a FAST service pre-merger. With the merger and new staff, maybe it's time for them to try one. FAST services have really grown over the past three years or so.

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And an official announcement from CNN themselves.

 

Quote

David Zaslav, the chief executive of Warner Bros. Discovery, has said that he wants to house all of the company's brands under one streaming service. Some CNN+ programming may eventually live on through that service.

 

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50 minutes ago, ddaniels20 said:

Well that didn't last long. Warner Bros. Discovery is expected to shut down CNN+, according to Variety.

 

Well, that was fast.

Since it will shut down now, I'll now say this: I also signed up for CNN+ to try out its offerings then leave after a while, and I actually largely enjoyed what I saw. When I heard about the reports of its low subscriber base and viewership, I hoped (in agreement with some other members here) that these programs can move over to a dedicated CNN(+) tab on HBO Max (and at least move 5 Things with Kate Bolduan and Go There to YouTube as they fit much better on a free platform and not behind a paywall). Now that it's (probably) happening, as an HBO Max subscriber, I couldn't be more happier.

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7 minutes ago, Action Newsroom said:

 

Well, that was fast.

Since it will shut down now, I'll now say this: I also signed up for CNN+ to try out its offerings then leave after a while, and I actually largely enjoyed what I saw. When I heard about the reports of its low subscriber base and viewership, I hoped (in agreement with some other members here) that these programs can move over to a dedicated CNN(+) tab on HBO Max (and at least move 5 Things with Kate Bolduan and Go There to YouTube as they fit much better on a free platform and not behind a paywall). Now that it's (probably) happening, as an HBO Max subscriber, I couldn't be more happier.

The fact that the article said that the CNN+ employees will be paid for 90 days and given the opportunity to explore other positions in the company...seems to imply that all of the programming will be cancelled rather than moved to another platform? Unless I'm reading into this too much.

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