Earlier today, with little in the way of fanfare or buildup, CBS launched CBSN, an (almost) around-the-clock online news network that will stream live, anchored news coverage every weekday from 9 a.m. ET to midnight. The launch comes on the heels of the announcement of CBS All Access, the network’s very own subscription service, and confirms its commitment to streaming, hashtags, the cloud, and everything else the kids are into.
CBSN will be available on CBSNews.com, the CBS News app, and connected TV devices like Amazon Fire TV and Roku. Segments will be split into 60-minute blocks of live news, with additional content fed in from CBS affiliate stations, CNET, CBSSports.com, and Entertainment Tonight. As of right now, the network is humming along with no noticeable slowdown or crashes, not a bad feat for a service of this size on its first day. Viewers can choose from a variety of stories updated every hour and listed on a bar on the left side on the screen, with the feed occasionally interrupted by breaking news reports.
CBS Corp. CEO Leslie Moonves talked up CBSN yesterday during a call with investors, saying, “We’re confident this service will appeal to both traditional news consumers and a whole new set of viewers.” That new set of viewers will presumably include all the young people who have never heard of the CBS Evening News, much less sat down to watch it.