CNN announces streaming service launch date

CNN announced the launch date of its streaming service CNN+ on Friday, saying it would debut on March 29. 

“We’re excited for everyone to experience CNN+ and see what we’ve been working on,” Alex MacCallum, CNN Worldwide head of product and general manager for CNN+, said in a statement.

“We have a really compelling content offering with CNN’s world class journalists and are confident in the product offered at this compelling price.”

Subscribers can either sign up for $5.99 monthly subscription or a $59.99 yearly subscription, with the network offering half off the monthly plan if users sign up for the service within the first four weeks of the streaming service’s launch.

That promotion is good “for life” as long as users remain subscribed to CNN+.

In July, CNN announced it would be debuting a streaming service. Former “Fox News Sunday” host Chris Wallace, former NBC Capitol Hill correspondent Kasie Hunt and former host of NPR’s “All Things Considered” Audie Cornish are among the figures set to be on the service. 

Some of the network’s own hosts will also have their own newscast or show on the streaming service, including anchors Don Lemon and Wolf Blitzer. 

The development comes as media conglomerate Discovery and WarnerMedia, the parent company to CNN, finalize their merger. 

The news also comes as the network adjusts to the new leadership of Chris Licht, who is set to head the network after former CNN President Jeff Zucker resigned following a relationship he had with another CNN executive that the company said violated its rules.