Page 12 - aruba-today-20220326
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a12   people & arts
                   Saturday 26 March 2022

                                                                      Opening day: CNN+ streaming service

                                                                      ready for launch Tuesday


                                                                                                                                such as "Anthony Bourdain:
                                                                                                                                Parts Unknown" and "RBG."
                                                                                                                                CNN+  will  also  emphasize
                                                                                                                                programs featuring people
                                                                                                                                who  have  a  specific,  de-
                                                                                                                                voted  following,  like  Alison
                                                                                                                                Roman  in  cooking,  Scott
                                                                                                                                Galloway  in  business  and
                                                                                                                                Jemele Hill and Rex Chap-
                                                                                                                                man  in  sports  and  culture.
                                                                                                                                CNN's  Anderson  Cooper
                                                                                                                                will  have  a  show  on  par-
                                                                                                                                enting, and Jake Tapper, a
                                                                                                                                seven-time  author  himself,
                                                                      This  undated  image  released  by  CNN+  shows  Audie  Cornish,   will have a program focus-
                                                                      weekly  interview  show  “20  Questions”  in  May,  on  the  new   ing on books.
                                                                      streaming service.                                        Two  online  series  will  be
                                                                                                               Associated Press  available  at  launch:  "The
                                                                                                                                Murdochs:  Empire  of  Influ-
                                                                      By DAVID BAUDER              anyone says come and do      ence," about media mogul
                                                                      NEW  YORK  (AP)  —  Once  what you do for us. It's usu-   Rupert  Murdoch,  and  "The
                                                                      a  familiar  voice  on  NPR,  ally,  'come  and  do  what   Land  of  the  Giants:  Titans
                                                                      Audie  Cornish  says  she  we need.'"                     of Tech," profiles of the big-
                                                                      signed  on  to  the  new  CNN+ is a big swing, done       gest high-tech firms.
                                                                      CNN+  streaming  service  in  at  a  tumultuous  time  in   Also planned is an interac-
                                                                      part  out  of  the  sense  she  the  company's  leadership,   tive  element  where  sub-
                                                                      was helping to open a new  and there's no shortage of     scribers  can  put  questions
                                                                      frontier.                    skepticism  in  the  industry   directly to show hosts.
                                                                      After  much  talk,  nearly  about its chances. But CNN    News  competitors  are  al-
                                                                      $100  million  in  develop-  views  streaming  as  the  fu-  ready in the paid streaming
                                                                      ment  costs  and  some  500  ture,  a  way  to  engage    space. Fox Nation, another
                                                                      employees assigned to the  younger  consumers,  and       paid  subscription  service,
                                                                      task  —  many,  like  Cornish,  sees The New York Times as   is  designed  to  appeal  to
                                                                      new hires — CNN+ is set to  the model for a successful    those  who  like  Fox's  opin-
                                                                      launch next Tuesday.         news subscription service.   ion  programming.  MSNBC
                                                                      The company on Thursday  It  will  cost  $5.99  a  month,   recently  announced  that
                                                                      revealed  a  typical  day's  but   charter   subscribers   it will make many of its pro-
                                                                      schedule,  with  a  news  can lock in a $2.99 monthly     grams  available  through
                                                                      countdown hosted by Kate  charge in perpetuity if they    Peacock.
                                                                      Bolduan, a deep-dive news  act  within  a  month  of  the   The  ABC,  CBS  and  NBC
                                                                      hour hosted by Sara Sidner,  launch.                      broadcast  news  divisions
                                                                      a  Chris  Wallace  interview  "We  think  it  will  be  incred-  offer news streaming prod-
                                                                      show,  and  hours  on  poli-  ibly  attractive  to  the  CNN   ucts for free.
                                                                      tics, international news and  fan,  people  who  respond   One  analyst  said  CNN+
                                                                      the media topped by Wolf  to  our  journalism,  people    may  receive  a  boost  be-
                                                                      Blitzer's evening newscast.  who tune to us when there's   cause the war in Ukraine is
                                                                      "It's so rare to have a lega-  something going on in the   reminding  many  consum-
                                                                      cy news organization pour  world," said Andrew Morse,     ers of the company's news
                                                                      resources  into  something  executive  vice  president    muscles.  CNN+  will  be  at-
                                                                      like  this,  at  this  scale,"  said  and chief digital officer at   tractive to consumers who
                                                                      Cornish,  whose  weekly  in-  CNN. "At its heart, CNN+ will   are cutting the cable cord
                                                                      terview show "20 Questions"  be  about  great  journalism   but don't want to lose ac-
                                                                      will debut in May. "A lot of  and story-telling."         cess to news and informa-
                                                                      times  people  say  they  will  While news is the core, and   tion,  said  Alan  Wolk,  co-
                                                                      pivot  into  something,  and  CNN+  will  have  the  abil-  founder of TVREV, a media
                                                                      it can be half-hearted. I re-  ity  to  go  live  on  big  sto-  analysis firm.
                                                                      ally appreciated that they  ries,  the  service  is  also  re-  With  questions  about  the
                                                                      were going all-in."          lying  on  a  growing  library   future of cable news given
                                                                      She  said  that  it's  "rare  that  of  original  series  and  films,   its  older  audiences,  CNN+
                                                                                                                                is the latest big step in the
                                                                                                                                news  industry's  seemingly
                                                                                                                                endless  quest  to  reach
                                                                                                                                more  young  people,  he
                                                                                                                                said.
                                                                                                                                Stephen   Beck,   manag-
                                                                                                                                ing  partner  of  the  consult-
                                                                                                                                ing  firm  cg42,  said  he's
                                                                                                                                concerned  that  CNN+  will
                                                                                                                                be  caught  in  a  consumer
                                                                                                                                squeeze. q
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