CNN launches its own Netflix

CNN confirms the launch of its CNN+ streaming platform for the first half of 2022.

There were glory days when Netflix was virtually the (legal) streaming content platform that hosted series, movies, and exclusive productions from almost all the big companies.

But it was only a matter of time before HBO, Disney, NBC, Amazon, Apple, the BCC, Paramount and ever-longer etcetera joined the list.

In the end, the streaming platforms are gradually becoming the new cable TV channels and the budget required to maintain the wide variety of options is increasingly demanding.

It is precisely in this scenario that CNN has just joined the trend with the creation of its own paid streaming platform.

This is CNN Plus

The news agency Reuters reveals the most recent plan of the people of WarnerMedia betting on the launch of the new streaming service CNN Plus.

This would imply an investment of USD $350 million this 2022, a figure that would be added to the already large combined debt load of USD $55,000 million of the Warner-Discovery group.

All that money in overdraft would be due to the very creation of HBO Max, the expenses amortized by the simultaneous release of films in theatres and on the platform, plus the final processes of the acquisition of Discovery.

But this would not be an improvised idea, or at least not a recently conceived improvised idea, as revealed by an official company spokesperson with knowledge of the case:

“CNN Plus was in the process of formation prior to May 2021, when we announced our transaction with Discovery. As with any deal of this size, there was extensive due diligence.

During this process, we broadcast CNN+. Since then, the go-to-market strategy has been completed and we are excited about our next release. Any suggestion that our plans and strategy for bringing CNN+ to market was inappropriate is false.

The streaming service would be launched during the spring of 2022, it is even stated that everything would happen this March, with a price of USD $5.99 for each month of service, just like when Fox Nation was launched.

Where you will have access to a permanent 24/7 news channel with the brand’s distinctive editorial line. Just like when Ted Turner launched CNN as a cable TV channel in the eighties.

History in its own way repeats itself, but more expensive.