Warner Bros. Discovery announced that CNN Max, an all-day live news segment, will be added to their streaming service Max, launching on Sept. 27. CNN Max will include exclusive material from renowned anchors, among them Jim Acosta. The decision to include this option comes more than a year after the quick closure of the streaming platform CNN+.
Warner Bros. Discovery has announced that CNN Max will be added to their Max streaming service on the 27th of September, acting as a 24/7 live news hub. Featuring content from anchors like Jim Acosta, Rahel Solomon, Amara Walker, Fredricka Whitfield, and Jim Sciutto, CNN Max will show staple CNN programs such as "Anderson Cooper 360," "Amanpour," and "The Lead with Jake Tapper." This joins existing content from the platform such as documentaries. The decision to include CNN news on Max comes over a year after the company closed the streamer CNN+, shortly after the merger of Warner Bros. and Discovery.
Recent events, such as the resignation of former head Jeff Zucker and the firing of Chris Licht, have caused turmoil at CNN, but the shift to streaming was inevitable. During an earnings call earlier this month, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav spoke of news and sports as "differentiators" that can make streaming services "really alive." In addition to the addition of CNN Max, the company is aiming to introduce sports to Max during the start of the MLB playoffs this fall, as reported by CNBC.
Negotiations between streaming services and pay-TV distributors can be difficult, with pay-TV companies preferring exclusive rights to networks on their bundles instead of replicated feeds on streaming, which has grown more popular as cord-cutting accelerates.
Correction: This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Jim Sciutto.
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