Functionally? There’s no difference, other than it’s a paid subscription channel. Practically, politically, and civically, network television has long accepted that it doesn’t make a profit from its news programming, so there’s a much stronger incentive to be calm, non-sensationalist, and to focus on important things that people care about. The only thing CNN cares about is ratings and profits.
They all help pay for their programming with advertising, definitely, but the networks’ motive isn’t to achieve the highest possible profits with their news productions, because news is just one part of their lineup. It would never be profitable on its own for them. CNN is only news, so their programming naturally ends up being more friendly to corporations and other interests that might benefit their bottom line, but not necessarily the public good.
Functionally? There’s no difference, other than it’s a paid subscription channel. Practically, politically, and civically, network television has long accepted that it doesn’t make a profit from its news programming, so there’s a much stronger incentive to be calm, non-sensationalist, and to focus on important things that people care about. The only thing CNN cares about is ratings and profits.
CNN is free to stream these days without a cable subscription in the US.
I do it on Roku pretty often.
WDYM? They’re all making money through sponsorships. Even PBS Newshour has sponsors for their segments.
They all help pay for their programming with advertising, definitely, but the networks’ motive isn’t to achieve the highest possible profits with their news productions, because news is just one part of their lineup. It would never be profitable on its own for them. CNN is only news, so their programming naturally ends up being more friendly to corporations and other interests that might benefit their bottom line, but not necessarily the public good.