CNN

CABLE NEWS NETWORK:CNN

History

     In 1970, R.E. Turner bought WJRJ-Atlanta a small, struggling UHF station. He renamed it WTCG for the parent company: Turner Communications Group. Through careful programming acquisitions the station became a success, and in fact, WTCG is the first superstation—able to transmit by satellite to cable systems. Then in 1979, Turner Communications Group was renamed Turner Broadcasting System, Inc, and the WTCG was renamed WTBS.
     In 1980, Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. introduced the first 24-hour, all-news network calling it the Cable News Network (CNN). This 20 million dollar investment was the biggest gamble of the mogul’s career.    The first broadcast was launched at 5:00 pm EST Sunday June 1. Ted Turner actually introduced the husband and wife anchor team, David Walker and Lois Hart. TBS launched a second CCN called HLN (Headline News) in 1982, which aired 30-minute newscasts at all hours, with the intention that anyone could tune in at anytime for a quick briefing of the daily news.
allowed the station to grow – from 225 staffers broadcasting to 1.7 millions viewers to 4,000 staffers broadcasting to 260 million.
The rest of the televsion industry took notice.  Turner is not modest concerning the network’s impact on televisions, "Today, 25 years after CNN first launched, there are more than 70 television channels broadcasting 24-hour news coverage around the world -- a true testament that CNN changed the world of broadcasting and journalism”   However, with new competition like FOX and MSNBC, CNN’s network viewership has been dropping.

Functioning: Production, Distribution & Transmission

 

CNN: Cable News Network is owned by its parent company, Time Warner. Along with its global headquarter, CNN Center, in Atlanta (Georgia), there are numerous CNN bureaus across the world: CNN International, CNN Arabic, CNN Chile, CNN Español, HLN in Asia Pacific, CNN Turk and etc.

    CNN broadcasts its news coverage and other shows via cable, satellite and telecommunication. CNN is the first news corporate to offer online news service, CNN.com, in 1995. Today, CNN.com is ranked No.1 among the news websites with 38.7 million users in March, compared with MSNBC.com's 33.8 million and Foxnews.com's 17 million (Nielsen NetRatings, National Journal). As a part of a recent improvement in its online service, CNN.com launched iPhone application that offer live news videos. In a data collected from Nielsen’s Mobile MediaView in February, CNN is said to have 14.8 million unique visitors to its mobile site in February and CNN Digital beats its closest rival, Yahoo News, by 174 percent. CNN Digital has topped the news and current events category for 38 consecutive months. ( Nielsen's Mobile MediaView, National Journal). 
 

     Besides CNN.com, CNN reaches its audiences via its other widely available services: CNN Airport Network, CNN Newsource, CNN Radio, CNN Mobile, and CNNMoney.com, CNN/U.S. and HLN. Although CNN has strong viewership for its news coverage, it has been doing very poorly with its prime-time programming. It received low ratings for the past few years and still the rating is low compared to its rivals MSNBC and Fox News. It earns only about 10% of its revenue from its prime-time shows and the rest 90% come from its non-prime-time programming on the network and on the above mentioned CNN-branded news and information platforms (National Journal).

 

Branding and Programming

CNN brands itself as a serious and reliable 24-hour global news organization. As with any cable news channel, they strive to report breaking and important stories. Cnn has a noticeably more international focus than Fox News or MSNBC, as evidenced by its CNN International channel. They more politically centrist than the more conservative Fox News and more liberal MSNBC. 

CNN’s daily programming follows the same format as other cable news networks- a morning shows, newsroom-style reporting that occupies the daytime hours, and a prime-time populated by individual programs. The day begins with American Morning, a morning news show that focuses on the stories at hand than the interaction between the hosts. The majority of the day is occupied by CNN Newsroom, which, as the name implies, broadcasts news in the typical anchors and newsroom format. The prime-time block begins at 5 with The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer, which models itself after the Situation Room of the White House. It is followed up by John King USA which focuses on American politics. Parker Spitzer follows at 8; a newer show featuring former New York governer Eliot Spitzer, it aims to showcase different opinions through debates involving the hosts and guests. The next show in the prime-time block is Larry King Live, a long-running evening talk show in which the host, Larry King, interviews important and relevant figures. It was announced in June 2010 that the show would end its run in December. The final show of the evening is Anderson Cooper 360, an award-winning two hour long show in which Anderson Cooper focuses on the biggest current news stories. This programming format of a morning show, a newsroom-based daytime, and a prime-time filled with individual programs follows the format of other cable news channels⁴.

In addition to the CNN channel, there are other three other primary outlets bearing the CNN name: CNN.com, CNN Headline News, and CNN International. CNN.com offers both live streams and archived footage. CNN Headline News, also a 24-hour channel, broadcasts looping newsroom-style coverage. CNN International, which typically airs on premium cable, focuses on global stories rather than news specific to the US⁵. 

References:

1.

 McPike, Erin. "Away From Prime Time, CNN Thrives." National Journal (2010). Academic OneFile. Web. 7 Oct. 2010.

Document URL
http://find.galegroup.com/gtx/infomark.do?&contentSet=IAC-Documents&type=retrieve&tabID=T002&prodId=AONE&docId=A227089974&source=gale&srcprod=AONE&userGroupName=vol_m58c&version=1.0

2.  Corporate website: http://www.turner.com/about/networks_and_businesses.html

3.  "Larry King to end long-running US TV chat show." BBC. 29 June 2010. 6 October 2010. <bbc.co.uk/news/10457092> 

4. Corporate website: http://cnn.com/CNN/Programs

5. Corporate website: http://cnn.com/about/