CNN charts new course with All Access streaming subscriptions

By Brian Stelter, CNN

(CNN) — CNN is introducing a streaming subscription option called All Access, charting a new course in a media era defined by direct-to-consumer relationships and mobile-first news reports.

The new service, which is built into CNN’s existing apps and websites, features multiple live TV streams of news coverage and exclusive content. The target audience includes cable cord-cutters and people who consume news primarily on their phones.

“It’s not CNN ‘extra’ or ‘plus,’ it’s CNN,” the network’s CEO, Mark Thompson, said in an interview, conveying how All Access carries “all the programs you expect to get from CNN.”

The streaming schedule largely mirrors CNN’s existing US cable channel, including the complete prime-time lineup, mixed with a few hours from two other CNN channels.

“This is live at its core,” said Alex MacCallum, CNN’s executive vice president for digital products and services.

The subscription offering also includes access to live feeds from the field, an extensive video-on-demand library and several internet-native show formats.

Later this week, for example, Anderson Cooper will begin hosting “All There Is Live,” a weekly companion broadcast to his popular “All There Is” podcast, which explores grief. Cooper will be able to interact with viewers via the online comments section, something that’s not possible on his nightly TV newscast.

However, crucially, from the point of view of would-be subscribers, “Anderson Cooper 360” will stream on All Access.

CNN’s previous, short-lived streaming service, CNN+, was criticized for lacking the network’s flagship newscasts. This glaring weakness stemmed from a double-edged sword known as carriage contracts — longstanding cable and satellite distribution deals that made CNN highly profitable but, for many years, hamstrung its ability to sell its programming directly to viewers.

But the distribution business is being transformed. As streaming services like Netflix have exploded in popularity, tens of millions of US households have stopped subscribing to traditional cable bundles, meaning many homes can no longer simply turn on CNN.

As this cord-cutting phenomenon has become an existential crisis, carriage deals have been renegotiated all across the industry, giving channel owners more flexibility while ensuring that cord-keepers still get value for their monthly payments.

And the “plus” products have largely been retired. Over the summer, ESPN launched an eponymous direct-to-consumer streaming service right inside its existing apps, providing a new option for fans without cable.

CNN is doing much the same thing now. MacCallum said the company’s market research has found “there are 18 million people in the US alone who no longer have cable, are CNN fans, and have indicated willingness to pay for a product from CNN.”

That is the starting point, so to speak, for CNN’s marketers.

All Access is live in the US as of Tuesday, and company executives say they intend to expand to other parts of the world over time.

Attempting a New York Times-like pivot

The launch of All Access comes one year after CNN implemented a partial digital paywall, charging users $3.99 per month for unlimited access to the sprawling CNN website.

That subscription tier is now called “Basic,” while “All Access” becomes the main priority as it provides a full multimedia experience.

All Access costs $6.99 per month or $69.99 per year. CNN is enticing users to pay annually by offering an intro price of $41.99 for the first year.

Thompson said he believes it is “the most ambitious digital offering from any news provider of TV heritage.”

Indeed, CNN’s rollout of a full-fledged subscription news service has been closely watched across the American media industry, as no other major network has attempted a New York Times-like pivot.

Fox News has operated a streaming subscription service, Fox Nation, for years, but it is largely known for its conservative-themed entertainment programming.

The US broadcast network news divisions all have free ad-supported streaming channels, but none have pursued a subscriber model.

Across the news industry, however, there is widespread agreement that subscriptions are the path to sustainability, whether at the institutional level or individually on platforms like Substack and Patreon.

If successful, CNN’s paid tiers will reorient the company’s business over time, making it less reliant on cable subscriber revenue and giving it more direct relationships with news viewers and readers.

The Times has become the envy of news publishers by building a digital subscription bundle with games, recipes and reviews alongside core reporting and commentary.

Thompson and MacCallum spearheaded The Times’ shift to digital subscriptions, and in effect, they’re now trying to launch a video-centric version inside CNN.

“You come into the experience and you immediately go into the live stream,” MacCallum said as she demonstrated the app for colleagues recently. “We have this channel changer at the bottom, so a user can switch between the different channels.”

The main “CNN Stream” starts with “Early Start” at 5 a.m. ET on weekdays and remains live all the way through “Laura Coates Live” at 11 p.m. A handful of CNN US hours in between won’t be streamed, in a concession to cable and satellite distributors, but those hours will be replaced by shows from CNN International and CNN Headlines.

By and large, the full-fledged CNN is streaming all day long — not an alternative version, a la CNN+, but the anchors and shows viewers already know.

The “unlimited shelf space” of digital, as MacCallum put it, allows for many other programming options as well. CNN International is streaming weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET. Another channel includes CNN’s original series and films.

MacCallum said there will be “pop-up channels” and “alt-casts” for breaking news stories and special events.

She said users will see that “we are leaning into our incredible global news reporting capabilities and leveraging the journalistic engine of CNN.”

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