WBD stepping back into news streaming via 'CNN Max'
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CNN (NASDAQ:WBD) is inching back into live streaming news -- but in a more modest manner than its failed foray into a separate streaming service via CNN+.
Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) will launch the 24-hour "CNN Max" as a live channel within its Max streaming service on Sept. 27. That will include a rebrand of the CNN Originals hub on Max as CNN Max.
While it will offer a full day of programming, due to cable contracts, CNN can't place the same traditional-TV feed it distributes to Americans onto Max, so it will feature parts of CNN International's North America feed, Axios noted.
CNN launched CNN+, its separate paid news streaming service, in a bit of a rush March 2022 just ahead of the completion of parent WarnerMedia's merger with Discovery. After a rough start and hundreds of millions of dollars in losses, the service was quickly killed by new management.
But unlike CNN+ -- which focused on lifestyle and feature programming to complement news content -- CNN Max will be oriented more toward breaking and headline news, though it will also feature its journalists in original news programming as well.
Features will be limited at first and CNN will place a "beta" label on the offering to show viewers that it's in an experimental phase, though features like a pause button and DVR functionality are on the table.
Meanwhile, as WBD hunts for a new CNN leader after the ouster of Chris Licht, the company is reportedly looking at a former BBC and NYT chief to take over.
Mark Thompson left NYT in 2020 after eight years with the company, and had previously served as Director General of the BBC. He's a leading candidate to take over CNN, Semafor says. After Licht's departure, CNN has been led by a committee of news veterans at the company.

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