Update, Friday, March 11, 2022: CNN got the streaming ball rolling by announcing a shiny new debut date for CNN+. Launching March 29, 2022, the service will be available in the United States for $5.99 a month or $59.99 a year. Along with a release date and pricing announcement, CNN+ also revealed a “Deal of a Lifetime†(their words, not ours) opportunity for early subscribers, giving those who sign up within the service’s first four weeks a chance to subscribe to the streamer for 50 percent off the monthly plan — so around three dollars a month — for as long as they stay a subscriber. So, now you can have CNN+, Disney+, Paramount+, Apple TV+ … okay, you get the idea.
Original story follows.
Looks like we’ve got another plus sign on our hands. Coming on the heels of Disney+, Paramount+, and Discovery+, CNN has announced it will launch its own streaming subscription service called, yes, CNN+ sometime “in the first quarter of 2022.†The platform will be for cord cutters who still want all the fun of all-day cable news in their lives: CNN+ will feature a mix of live news and on-demand programming, with some good ol’ original content thrown into the mix. President of CNN Worldwide Jeff Zucker touts the news as “an important step in expanding what news can be†and said that “nothing like this exists.â€
So what, exactly, will be on this service besides the network’s usual talking heads? According to CNN, it will feature brand-new original programs and movies that will be announced at a later date. [Disclosure: CNN has commissioned projects from Vox Media, the parent company of New York Magazine.] As for titles we do know about, CNN+ says its launch slate will include a deep bench of the network’s nonfiction television shows and films, such as Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown, This Is Life with Lisa Ling, United Shades of America with W. Kamau Bell, and Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy.