WarnerMedia and CNN to launch CNN+ as a video streaming news service in first quarter of 2022 with over 8 hours of live programming daily.

by Thinus Ferreira

WarnerMedia and CNN announced on Monday afternoon that it will launch CNN+ (CNN Plus) in the first quarter of 2022 as a new video streaming news service with over 8 hours of live programming daily.

It's not yet clear whether CNN+ -that will complement CNN Domestic in the United States and CNN International (DStv 401) as its global channel version - will be available outside of America, or when and on what platforms it will be accessible.

CNN will very likely have to hire hundreds more staffers to beef up CNN+ with no pricing or any specific anchoring and presenting talent that has been announced.

CNN says that CNN Plus will be an "additive experience that complements the core CNN linear networks and digital platforms to serve CNN superfans, news junkies and fans of quality non-fiction programming".

CNN+ will carry between 8 and 12 hours of live programming per day, and will also have "topical deep dives and lifestyle content from some of CNN’s most prominent talent, as well as several new faces", for instance, non-fiction lifestyle series like Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy that is currently broadcast on CNN International on Sunday evenings.

"CNN invented cable news in 1980, defined online news in 1995 and now is taking an important step in expanding what news can be by launching a direct-to-consumer streaming subscription service in 2022," says Jeff Zucker, WarnerMedia News and Sports chairman and CNN Worldwide president in a press release announcing CNN+.

"As the most trusted and recognized name in news, CNN has unrivaled global reach, world-class talent and a deep existing library of content including award-winning series and films."

"On top of a television offering that has never been stronger, which remains at the core of what we do today, we will offer consumers a streaming product that grows the reach and scope of the CNN brand in a way that no one else is doing. Nothing like this exists."

Besides the issuing of the press release about CNN Plus, Jeff Zucker also had an internal meeting on Monday morning with staffers about CNN+.

TV NEWS ROUND-UP. Today's interesting TV stories to read - 29 December 2020.

Here's the news about TV that I read and that you should read too:     

■ ViacomCBS CEO's plan for its global Paramount+ video streaming service: Breaking news, live sports and a mountain of entertainment content.

■ Donald Trump plans to wreck Fox News (StarSat 261) with his own MAGA digital channel.

"He plans to wreck Fox," says insiders, revealing that the reality TV star wants to start a digital media channel that would stream online since starting a traditional pay-TV channel would be expensive and time-consuming.

■ The new third episode of the 2nd season of Star Wars: The Mandalorian just fixed a major plot hole.

- SEE: Sets in Los Angeles almost completed for season 3.

- Second season of The Mandalorian sets a new standard in phallic symbols.

■ How Bridgerton on Netflix wants to revolutionise romance on TV.

■ Fox News (StarSat 261) identity crisis: Indulge Donald Trump election claims or reject it and watch viewers flee.

■ The film crews being directed from a continent away.

■ Will Disney+ ever be as big as Netflix?

■ CNN (DStv 401) ratings surge as boss Jeff Zucker's fate is uncertain.

■ Deadliest Catch fisherman star Nick McGlashan dead at 33. His cause of death is unknown but he has been struggling with drugs and alcohol for years.

■ When every set looks like Contagion: Inside Hollywood's pandemic year.

■ Apple TV+ was making a new TV show about Gawker. Then CEO Tim Cook found out and canned it.

■ The SABC's Monday meeting with the trade unions Bemawu and CWU over retrenchments has been postponed.

■ PODCAST - Access denied: Like in the industries its reporters cover, the lack of black representation in financial media has created blind spots where predominantly white newsrooms often miss stories about systemic racism or fail to reach an audience of more than one demographic.

■ MUST READ: How America's Trump administration suppresses photography of the Covid-19 pandemic.

How America's government reinforced media restrictions at hospitals to curb the media's ability to show disturbing images from inside hospitals and from preventing journalists from getting access.

CNN turns 35 years old, celebrates with bloopers and a TV special (which CNN International couldn't be bothered to tell African viewers to watch).

CNN turned 35 years old on Monday, and the 24-hour TV news channel which stands for "Cable News Network" celebrated with bloopers from its storied past, as well as a TV special looking back at its history and the how it's covered some of the big stories.

Co-incidentally, eNCA (DStv 403) turned seven years old on Monday in South Africa, and CNBC Africa (DStv 410) turned eight. Both channels are carried by MultiChoice in its DStv satellite pay-TV platform in Africa.

In an internal memo send to staff by Jeff Zucker, president of CNN Worldwide, wrote "Thirty five years ago today, Ted Turner and CNN made history.It was 1 June, 1980".

"Before anyone else, he realised there was a market, and a need, for a television network devoted to news and information, 24 hours a day. It was brilliant and radical."

"Thirty five years later, we are still making history, every day. In a world that changes so fast you can now get the news on your wrist, one thing remains constant: CNN is always there".

"The world relies on CNN, so it matters that CNN is good," wrote Jeff Zucker. "We take our work seriously, because we know we have a responsibility to maintain the standards that Ted set 35 years ago."

"He founded CNN to act upon our convictions, to be a positive force in a world where cynics abound, and to provide information to people where it isn't readily available. We live up to those ambitious goals every day – whether we are covering a story, moderating a debate, pushing an interview subject just a bit harder, developing a new way to get our reporting to the people who want it."

To celebrate its 35th anniversary, CNN put together a 4 minute blooper reel filled with gaffes from its past. It contains funny moments of anchors and correspondents laughing, having to respond to technical mistakes and studio problems, awkward silences, technology not working, and being unable to remember what month follows July.

On Monday night CNN International (DStv 401) also had a TV special, Thirty Five Years of CNN but did little to tell and inform Africa's viewers that it would be on and when to watch it. The special wasn't recordable; CNN International's electronic programme guide (EPG) on DStv never listed the programme. It's not known when the special would be repeated this week, if at all.

Thirty Five Years of CNN which has been uploaded to YouTube and other video viewing sites, looks back as anchors and correspondents over the years reflect on big stories CNN covered over the past decades, ranging from 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina, to the OJ Simpson chase and trial, the first Iraq war, the Challenger disaster, the Boston Marathon bombing and the Haiti earthquake among others.

'This is CNN': The baritone voice of James Earl Jones is back on CNN International after years.

The voice of James Earl Jones is back on CNN International (DStv 401), months after the venerable actor's iconic voice-over which was retired years ago, has been brought back to CNN in America at the beginning of the year.

The authoritative baritone of James Earl Jones saying "This is CNN" can now once again be heard on CNN International after it was reintroduced on CNN in the United States in January, part of the plans of Jeff Zucker, the chief executive of CNN Worldwide, to revitalise the CNN channel in America which is grappling with a prolonged struggle for viewership in that country.

The symbolic return of the James Earl Jones CNN sound byte is pleasant to hear and harkens back to an era - also in South Africa - when CNN International was almost the only 24-hour TV news channel in the game.

South African TV viewers saw CNN International broadcast in afternoon blocks on TV1 and late at night on TV1 and CCTV in the early and mid-nineties, when it was also added to MultiChoice's DStv platform as one of only a few 24-hour news channels.

Now the sound clip of "This is CNN" has also been relicensed for CNN's international news channel.

Anthony Bourdain Parts Unknown on CNN International renewed for a second season set to start in September.

Anthony Bourdain's Anthony Bourdain Parts Unknown which just started on CNN International (DStv 401) on Saturdays at 21:00 (repeats Fridays at 17:00) will be back for a second season in September.

In the ongoing first season of Anthony Bourdain Parts Unknown which South African viewers will still see, the travelogue visits the cultures of Quebec, Tangier, Libya, Peru and the Congo.

The second season of Anthony Bourdain Parts Unknown will have 8 episodes and Anthony Bourdain will visit countries and cities including Spain, New Mexico, Israel, Copenhagen, Sicily, Detroit, Tokyo and India.

"Zero Point Zero Production has created a spectacularly beautiful, informative and entertaining series for CNN that has resonated with viewers in a profound way," says Jeff Zucker, CNN Worldwide president in a press statement.

"In addition to its runaway ratings success, it is also quite the conversation starter, as anyone who follows social media can attest. We are so happy to announce season two, and I can assure you that audiences will love what is coming up on the show."

Jeff Zucker appointed as president of CNN Worldwide to help try and pull CNN in America out of the ratings gutter.

Jeff Zucker under whose leadership the NBC network in America suffered a dysmal implosion of its primetime programming and ratings, has been appointed as the president of CNN Worldwide to help try and get CNN, the CNN seen in just America as opposed to CNN International seen worldwide, out of the ratings gutter.

"In January 2013, Jeff Zucker will assume executive oversight of a portfolio of 23 branded news and information businesses that includes CNN/U.S., CNN International, CNN.com and HLN and reaches more than 2 billion people in some 200 countries around the world. Zucker will report to Phil Kent, chairman and CEO of CNN parent company Turner Broadcasting System Inc., and will be based at CNN in New York," says CNN in a statement.

"As a programmer, a brand-builder and a leader, he will bring energy and new thinking to CNN. I couldn't be happier to welcome him or more excited about what he’ll accomplish here," says Phil Kent in the statement.

"I am thrilled to join the distinguished team of journalists across the worldwide platforms of CNN," says Jeff Zucker in the statement. " The global reach and scale of the CNN brand is unparalleled in all of news."