Warner Bros. Discovery is to incorporate live news programming for the first time into its streaming platform Max with the addition of CNN Max.
The service launches a little more than a year after Warner Bros. Discovery closed standalone news platform CNN+.
CNN Max will be a new seven-day-a-week/24-hour service and will launch on September 27 in “beta” to enable experimentation with product features, content offerings and original storytelling.
It will be offered at no extra cost to Max subscribers in the United States before being rolled out more broadly following feedback received during the beta stage.
The service will include new programming for the Max streaming audience like CNN Newsroom with Jim Acosta, Rahel Solomon, Amara Walker and Fredricka Whitfield, and CNN Newsroom with Jim Sciutto. Sciutto will also lead breaking news coverage on the platform in the afternoons.
CNN Max will additionally feature existing programming such as Amanpour, Anderson Cooper 360, The Lead with Jake Tapper, The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer, and other anchors, correspondents, and contributors.
In May this year, Warner Bros. Discovery relaunched its flagship streaming service HBO Max as Max, combining content from Warner Bros. and Discovery+ under one roof. While some CNN content has been featured on the platform, news and sports have yet to be included.
“As we laid out at our launch only a few months ago, our vision for Max is to be The One to Watch for all members of a household. We have the broadest and highest quality entertainment offering, and now will include world-leading news as a meaningful addition for all Max subscribers, at no extra charge,” said JB Perrette, CEO and President, Global Streaming and Games at Warner Bros. Discovery.
“The quality, depth and reach of CNN’s global journalism is what distinguishes the company and we’re thrilled to launch CNN Max and create a 24/7 live news streaming service. CNN Max brings the advantages CNN has in global newsgathering, breaking news coverage and top analysis to a new platform and a new audience,” said CNN Worldwide’s leadership team, Amy Entelis, David Leavy, Virginia Moseley and Eric Sherling.
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