Streaming helped many of us ditch cable in favor of a “pay for what you want to watch” model. Sure, there are way too many streaming services now, but I still wouldn’t want to go back to the olden days.
That said, one area cable still has a vice grip on is news. Cable news is a pain in the ass to keep up with—unless you subscribe to cable, or an internet TV service like those Hulu and YouTube offer. If you subscribe to Max, however, you’ll also soon have CNN. Kind of.
Warner Bros. Discovery announced Thursday, August 24, its newest venture with Max, the streaming service which combined HBO Max with Discovery+. The latest development? CNN Max, a 24/7 news platform launching September 27.
CNN Max isn’t exactly CNN, but it also is CNN. Like its parent channel, CNN Max runs news all day, every day: It will feature CNN’s lineup of anchors and shows, including “Amanpour,” “Anderson Cooper 360,” “The Lead with Jake Tapper,” and “The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer.” However, the Max variant comes with its own content, as well, including “CNN Newsroom with Jim Acosta, Rahel Solomon, Amara Walker and Fredricka Whitfield,” and “CNN Newsroom with Jim Sciutto.”
So, at some points in the day, you’ll see the same live coverage you’d see by tuning into CNN on cable. Anderson Cooper will be reporting to you live on both platforms, as will Wolf Blitzer. However, many other times of day, you’ll see live reporting and analysis on CNN Max that is unique to that experience. Unless you’re a die-hard CNN fan, you might not even notice the difference.
On top of that, CNN Max takes over CNN Originals: If you’re a subscriber, you’ll be used to CNN’s 24/7 live stream, as well as original content from CNN. This original content, of which Warner Bros. Discovery says numbers over 900 episodes, will still be available under CNN Max.
Basically, it’s the streaming version of CNN, which might actually be interesting. Warner Bros. Discovery considers this a beta test, and, if it does well, it’s possible other platforms will follow suit. Perhaps Peacock will create a hybrid of MSNBC to stream live: The service already lets you watch MSNBC episodes after they air, after all.
