CNN to stream GOP debate for free

by Mario Trujillo - 09/09/15 2:13 PM ET

CNN is slated to stream the second Republican presidential debate free online next week — a departure from Fox News’s decision last month when it hosted the first GOP forum.

CNN streams all of its programming online, but it usually requires customers to sign in using an account tied to a traditional pay TV subscription.

{mosads}The cable network announced it will lift that paywall from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. the night of the debate and feature the live stream on its homepage. The move is meant to “showcase the value of ‘TV Everywhere'” — the name CNN gives to its streaming service.

CNN’s Andrew Morse, who heads the network’s editorial operations in the United States, told Mashable the company is banking on giving its streaming feature more exposure. He told the website CNN is not concerned about losing ratings, because he believes people with a cable subscription will continue watching on traditional TV.

“I think if you have a TV and you’re sitting in front of a TV and you have a cable subscription, you’re going to watch the debate on TV,” he said. “If you don’t happen to be sitting in front of the TV, it’s historic moment that we think people are going to seek out.”

Fox News scored about 24 million viewers to the first GOP debate in August, breaking all previous debate and cable news records. Those rating have reportedly boosted ad prices for future debates, like the one hosted by CNN next Wednesday.

But Fox received some criticism for not offering a free livestream, which forced those without cable subscriptions to find someone with a subscription or miss the live event.

Susan Crawford, a visiting professor at Harvard University, called Fox’s move “wrong” and said it “shouldn’t happen again.” She described it as a new kind of poll tax.

“Fox News felt no need to ensure that online viewers could watch the debate. That meant that cord-cutters and cord-nevers — basically, Millennials and an ever-increasing chunk of Americans — whose high-speed Internet access wasn’t sold to them by a cable company had to wait for re-runs,” she wrote in a Medium post.