CNN+ Readies For Debut: Is It The Next News Innovation Or Too Late To The Streaming Wars?

deadline.com:

The long awaited, heavily promoted CNN+ debuts on Tuesday, with a lineup of live and on-demand programming and, in the media world, a dose of doubts.Among them: Rivals already have staked their space in the streaming universe.

The subscription streaming service needs more must-have programming to lure customers already satiated in monthly fees. And CNN+ is launching just weeks from the network getting a new parent, with the combination of Discovery and WarnerMedia, along with new leadership, with Chris Licht scheduled to take over as the network’s new leader in May.Yet Andrew Morse, Executive VP and Chief Digital Officer, who leading CNN+, is insistent that what the service offers will be unlike anything else out there.“We are not trying to launch just another streaming service,” he said in an interview late last week. “What we are building is the most essential and engaging direct-to-consumer news subscription service.

There is not another news product like this on the market. … We’re not trying to compete with entertainment streaming services.”The monthly subscription is priced at $5.99, the same as Fox News’ Fox Nation, which launched in 2018, but CNN also is offering a 50% lifetime discount for those who sign up in the first month.Morse said they have a “very ambitious but achievable subscriber target,” and while he declined to disclose the exact figure, he confirmed that a bundle offering with HBO Max is “on our roadmap for later this year.”“The real opportunity for us is this company has the fastest-growing entertainment streaming service,” he said. “So the ability to bundle CNN+ alongside HBO Max and obviously Discovery Plus coming into the family, it is a really exciting proposition for us.”CNN+ will have a mix