Warner Bros. Discovery, the parent company of CNN, says it has plans to launch a new 24-hour streaming news service just more than a year after shuttering CNN+.
“CNN Max,” will feature a full seven-day schedule of news programming when it launches in September and will draw on some of the network’s top talent — including Jake Tapper, Jim Acosta and Anderson Cooper, according to the company.
The new venture will be included with all “MAX packages,” the company said, and it will be ad-free to start, coming at no additional charge to MAX subscribers. MAX is HBO’s recently rebranded entertainment streaming service.
“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, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO and president of Global Streaming and Games.
The announcement comes a year after CNN ended its previous paid subscription service after only 30 days due to a lack of subscribers and following a chaotic rollout.
The failure of CNN+, which the network recruited high-profile hosts and anchors away from other outlets for, reverberated across the cable news landscape and sparked questions about the future of streamed news.
Each of the major cable and broadcast networks including NBC, MSNBC, CBS and ABC have made large pushes into live streaming news content in recent years, putting millions of dollars in resources into programming and personnel. Fox Nation, a paid streaming service under the Fox News Media umbrella, has also rolled out a bevy of news and entertainment programs since it was launched in 2018.
Warner Bros. Discovery purchased CNN last year, and earlier this summer fired former CEO Chris Licht after just more than a year on the job.
Updated: 1:32 p.m.