CNN Worldwide announced that its CNN and HLN television networks will be streamed live beginning today, July 18, online and via free CNN apps for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch.
The apps may be free, but a subscription to a participating pay TV provider is required to view the streamed online and mobile content, and users must log in with a username and password authenticated by their provider. Participants to date include AT&T, Comcast, Cox, DISH Network, Suddenlink and Verizon, which combined reach about 50 million households.
As AllThingsD points out, Time Warner Cable is missing from the list of participants, which is ironic since CNN and HLN are Turner Broadcasting System properties, which makes them both Time Warner companies. Time Warner’s HBO released HBO Go earlier this year, and Time Warner Cable declined to participate in that either.
This initiative makes CNN Worldwide the first news organization to stream its linear television channels online and on mobile devices to consumers who subscribe to a multi-channel video service, said Jim Walton, president of CNN Worldwide.
“A principal goal for CNN is to make more of our content available to more people on more platforms, and CNN’s participation in the TV Everywhere initiative is another step forward in that effort,” Walton said. “We have long believed that our growth depends on keeping CNN essential and relevant to consumers wherever they are.”
The launch coincides with the company releasing an improved video experience on CNN.com, which now integrates live TV into a higher quality, larger screen video player. The site now optimizes the video quality based on each user’s Internet connection, with the capability to deliver high definition quality. It also makes it possible for viewers to scale the video down to browse through other CNN video collection and TV clips without leaving the page.
Related Link:
AllThingsD post: http://tinyurl.com/3qvqhs
