CNN launching streaming service again, three years after failed CNN+ venture

CNN will be launching a new streaming product this fall, roughly three years after its expensive and short-lived CNN+ streaming service was shut down just one month after its launch.

CNN CEO Mark Thompson made the announcement during a meeting with staff on Tuesday, according to The New York Times, which first reported on the news.

CNN said the new streaming product will expand on its existing digital subscription service for customers, which currently gives paid subscribers unlimited access to articles on CNN's website and exclusive content.

In a press release, CNN said the new service, called "All Access," will give customers a "simple and centralized way" to access their news content across all platforms — their mobile app, connected TV apps and website.

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"CNN has been leading and innovating in video-led journalism since its inception, and the expansion of our subscription offering to include streaming embodies that pioneering spirit," Alex MacCallum, Executive Vice President, Digital Products and Services, said in a statement. "We’re giving audiences an even more convenient way to access CNN’s trusted reporting and original programming—brought together in one intuitive, easy-to-use experience." 

CNN has not announced details about pricing or a release date yet.

The announcement comes roughly three years after CNN's parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery, scrapped its previous streaming service, CNN+, one month after its launch and shortly after Discovery completed its merger with WarnerMedia, in April 2022.

CNN+ was scrutinized at the time for relying on paid subscribers when the basic cable version of CNN was already struggling to attract an audience.

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"CNN+ is currently set up to fail with a subscription-only revenue model," Progress Ventures founder Nick MacShane wrote in Adweek at the time. 

The service, which CNN reportedly spent $300 million to build, failed to resonate with viewers and was mocked after leaked subscription data revealed startlingly low numbers.

After pulling the plug on CNN+, then-CEO Chris Licht said, "As we become Warner Bros. Discovery, CNN will be strongest as part of WBD’s streaming strategy which envisions news as an important part of a compelling broader offering along with sports, entertainment, and nonfiction content."

"We have therefore made the decision to cease operations of CNN+ and focus our investment on CNN’s core news-gathering operations and in further building CNN Digital," Licht continued. "This is not a decision about quality; we appreciate all of the work, ambition and creativity that went into building CNN+, an organization with terrific talent and compelling programming. But our customers and CNN will be best served with a simpler streaming choice." 

CNN's streaming product announcement comes after Fox announced its new all-encompassing streaming platform, "FOX One," will also debut this fall.

FOX One, a wholly-owned streaming platform, will give customers live-streaming and on-demand access to all Fox brands, including FOX News, FOX Business, FOX Weather, FOX Sports, FS1 (Fox Sports 1), FS2, BTN (Big Ten Network), FOX Deportes, FOX Local Stations and the FOX network, as well as the option to bundle FOX Nation within one platform.

Fox News' Brian Flood and Lindsay Kornick contributed to this article.