Of course, any news-adjacent cancellation is bound to raise some eyebrows these days. The Trump administration did recently threaten CNN with a lawsuit over its reporting on anti-ICE app ICEBlock (which was removed from Apple’s App Store this week), in addition to its previous threats over the network’s coverage of the airstrike in Iran. It really does seem like this was a business decision, however. “CNN has benefitted tremendously from its two years of offering a live 24/7 feed of news to HBO Max customers,” Alex MacCallum, CNN’s executive vice president of digital products and services, said in a statement, per Variety. “We learned from HBO Max’s large base of subscribers what people want and enjoy the most from CNN, and with the launch of our own new streaming subscription offering coming later this fall, we look forward to building off that and growing our audience with this unique, new offering.”
Hopefully the network will be able to use all that insight to build a streamer that lasts for more than a month. Its previous attempt, CNN+, didn’t even make it as long as Quibi before shutting its doors. The new streamer, which has not announced an official name as of this writing, sounds like it will be a little less flashy than the last one, which included (among other things) an interactive element called “Interview Club.” “It’ll be our first true news streaming service. One simple way to explore the very best of CNN journalism on your phone, your connected TV, or other digital device, first in the U.S., soon anywhere in the world, live channels and news feeds, exclusive programming and other content and all the storytellers our audiences know and trust,” said CNN CEO Mark Thompson at Warner Bros. Discovery’s upfront presentation earlier this year, per The Hollywood Reporter.
WBD hasn’t announced an official launch date for the new service, but it will presumably align somewhat with the end of the CNN stream on November 17. In the meantime, HBO Max subscribers will still be able to access select CNN Originals, including Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown, Stanley Tucci: Searching For Italy, and The Whole Story With Anderson Cooper.
