CNN’s live news feed will soon leave HBO Max. Here’s why.
Ahead of CNN launching a stand-alone streaming product this fall, HBO Max will drop the 24/7 live news stream from the media organization in November.
The CNN Max livestream will sunset Nov. 17, according to a news release from the company. HBO Max will continue to stream CNN Originals, including “Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy,” “Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown” and “The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper.”
HBO Max integrated the 24/7 feed about two years ago.
In a statement, CNN’s executive vice president of digital products and services, Alex MacCallum, said the news network has benefited from offering the live feed to HBO Max customers.
“We learned from HBO Max’s large base of subscribers what people want and enjoy the most from CNN, and with the launch of our own new streaming subscription offering coming later this fall, we look forward to building off that and growing our audience with this unique, new offering,” MacCallum said in the statement.
In May, CNN announced plans to introduce a subscription streaming service to reach consumers as its traditional television revenues decline and households do away with cable. The media organization said the service would package live programming with on-demand content, and would build on CNN’s existing subscription product launched in October 2024, which allows users to access CNN.com articles and subscriber-only content for $3.99 per month.
CNN set fall 2025 as the tentative date of the service launch. But further details regarding a more exact date, pricing and the programming lineup still have not been confirmed by the organization.
The new product comes more than three years after the dissolution of the news organization’s first streaming service, CNN+, which was designed as a bridge to the future amid declining viewership and revenues from the linear television business. Ted Turner, who founded CNN in Atlanta, was the first subscriber to CNN+.
CNN+ was discontinued one month after launching, a casualty of the merger of WarnerMedia with Discovery, which brought with it a $50 billion debt load and an urgency to cut costs. Chris Licht, the former CEO of CNN, said at the time the decision was in line with Warner Bros. Discovery’s direct-to-consumer strategy, and that consumers wanted simplicity and an all-in service instead of stand-alone offerings.
The new service will also launch during a period of change for CNN. Its parent company, WBD, plans to split itself into two publicly traded companies. One will house its cable television businesses, which includes CNN, and the other will include its more profitable studio and streaming operations. The split is expected to be completed by April 2026.
CNN reported a strong month of audience growth and engagement across linear TV, digital and streaming platforms in September. Minutes per viewer were up about 10% month over month across the network’s digital platforms in the U.S., it said, citing data from audience tracker Comscore.
About the Author
Savannah Sicurella is an entertainment business reporter with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
