 | |
| Country | United States |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Worldwide (also available in hotels and onboard cruise ships) |
| Headquarters | Atlanta,Georgia New York City London Hong Kong Mumbai Abu Dhabi |
| Programming | |
| Language | English |
| Picture format | 1080iHDTV[1] (downscaled to480i/576i for theSDTV feed) |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Warner Bros. Discovery |
| Parent | CNN Worldwide |
| Key people |
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| Sister channels | |
| History | |
| Launched | September 1, 1985; 40 years ago (1985-09-01) |
| Former names | CNN Europe |
| Links | |
| Website | edition TV schedule (Asia) TV schedule (Europe) TV schedule (Americas)(Philippines) |
| Availability | |
| Terrestrial | |
| DTT (Andorra) | Channel 36 |
| Boxer TV Access (Sweden) | Channel 26 |
| Oqaab (Afghanistan) | Channel 66 |
| Digitenne (Netherlands) | Channel 30 (HD) / Channel 61 (KPN) |
| GOtv (Sub-Saharan Africa) | Channel 72 |
| DStv (Sub-Saharan Africa) | Channel 401 |
| Azam TV (East Africa) | Channel 239 |
| Streaming media | |
| CNN.com/live (U.K.) | Watch live (UK-only, free preview and then subscription required) |
| CNN.com/live (U.S.) | Watch live (U.S. pay-TV subscribers only; requires login from participating television providers to access stream) |
| Hulu + Live TV (U.S.) | Internet Protocol television |
| Joyn (Germany,720p50) | free live stream login required |
| Pluto TV (Germany, 720p50) | free live stream |
Cable News Network International orCNN International (CNNi, simply branded on-air asCNN) is an internationaltelevision channel andwebsite, owned by CNN Worldwide. CNN International carries news-related programming worldwide; it cooperates with sister networkCNN's national and international news bureaus. Unlike its sister channel, CNN, a North American-only subscription service, CNN International is carried on a variety of TV platforms across the world, and broadcast from studios inside and outside the United States, in Atlanta, New York City,[3] London, Mumbai, Hong Kong, andAbu Dhabi. In some countries, it is available as afree-to-air network. The service is aimed at the overseas market, similar toBBC News,France 24,CGTN,DW,RT,DD India,NHK World,TRT World orAl Jazeera English.
CNN International began broadcasting on September 1, 1985, at first primarily broadcasting to American business travelers in hotels. The first studio for CNNI was at CNN's original studio building known as Techwood, home at that time to all of Turner Broadcasting System's channels. Today, it is home to the Techwood Studios complex that houses the entertainment channels. Other early studios in Atlanta were tucked away in various corners of theCNN Center, and the newsroom lacked even adigital clock. The vast majority of the network's programming originally consisted of simulcasts of the two domestic CNN channels (CNN/US andHeadline News). In the United Kingdom, the channel began broadcasting on September 17, 1987, the office was located at 25/28 Old Burlington Street, London.[4] In 1990, however, the amount of news programming produced by CNNI especially for international viewers increased significantly.
Paul Vessey, an executive of CNN International, said in 1992 that CNN will go international style and get "less and less American".[5]
A new newsroom and studio complex was built in 1994, as CNN decided to compete againstBBC World Service Television's news programming. CNNI emerged as an internationally oriented news channel, with staff members of various national backgrounds, even though some accusations of a pro-U.S. editorial bias persist. CNN International was awarded theLiberty Medal on July 4, 1997. Ted Turner, in accepting the medal on behalf of the network, said: "My idea was, we're just going to give people the facts... We didn't have to show liberty and democracy as good and show socialism or totalitarianism as bad. If we just showed them both the way they were ... everybody's going to choose liberty and democracy."[6]
In 1995, creative director Morgan Almeida defined a progressive rebranding strategy, to target CNNI's diverse global market, making the on-air look less overtly American and with a cleaner, simpler "international" aesthetic going forward. The word "International" in the channel's logo was replaced with a globe, and the new branding featured numerous international locations filmed in time-lapse, channel idents created in CGI with Velvet Design in Munich, and a news brand designed withThe Attik in New York.[7]
The regionalization of CNN International was through the efforts ofChris Cramer, joining CNN in 1996. CNN International was split into three feeds – Asia, Europe/Africa/Middle East and Latin America. By 1998, CNN International produced 90% of its content, up from 50% in 1996. The rest of the percentage is for domestic CNN broadcasts from the United States.[8] According to an annual PAX survey, in 1998 and 1999 CNN International was the leading cable and satellite network in Asia in terms of viewership among affluent households and among business decision-makers.[9] CNN International planned to air shows in 1999 including World Beat, its popular weekly international music segment, and the global arts round-up Art Club.[8] The channel was banned in China in June 1999, on the tenth anniversary of theTianamnen Square massacre.[10]
The network undertook another major rebranding effort in 2006 overseen by Mark Wright and London agency Kemistry. The ticker was replaced by a flipper, on-screen graphics were more unified and from October 2007 until August 2008, new studios were progressively rolled out. However, on January 1, 2009, CNN International adopted the "lower-thirds" that CNN/US had introduced a month earlier which was inspired by the clean modern design of the CNNI rebrand efforts.
In the U.S., CNNI North America was distributed overnight and on weekends over theCNNfn financial channel, until that channel's demise in December 2004. It is now available as a standalone, full-time channel, usually as part of high-tier packages of subscription providers includingTime Warner Cable,AT&T U-Verse,Verizon FiOS andCox Communications.
From January until September 2009, CNN International adopted more programs that became geared towards a primetime European audience with a few titled after CNN International personalities, most notably the interview programAmanpour. On September 21, 2009, the channel launched a new tagline "Go Beyond Borders", along with a new logo, and consolidated its general newscasts (World News,CNN Today,World News Asia,World News Europe andYour World Today) into a single newscast entitledWorld Report.
The slogan "Go Beyond Borders" emphasizes the international perspective that gives the information in this string and the plurality of the audiences. With this tagline, CNN also refers to the various platforms to disseminate their content. The new image was created by the creativity and marketing department, and agency CNN Tooth & Nail. An important element of the rebrand was a new evening program that added the broadcast of programsAmanpour andWorld One. The makeover of CNN International has been subject to a lot of criticism on both the new prime-time lineup and the redesigned graphics.
On January 11, 2009, in a bid to compete directly withAl Jazeera English, the network launched a new production center: CNNAbu Dhabi, based in the United Arab Emirates. Then, CNN International adapted half-hour shows in its schedule with a new evening prime program for theMiddle East viewers,Prism.
In 2010, CNN International launched new programs for its evening lineup to improve its schedule. In 2011, programs from CNN U.S. were added to the CNN International schedule, including the talk programPiers Morgan Live which was later canceled and replaced withCNN Tonight hosted by Don Lemon.
"This is CNN" represents CNN International's rebrand with new sets and output in full 16:9 high definition. The "This is CNN" slogan is also used on its sister networkCNN in the United States. The managing director of CNN International from 2003 to May 2019 was Tony Maddox.[11]
In 2019, CNN International announced it was reducing its programming and staff based in London to reduce costs, with CNNI losing $10 million per year.[12] Later that year, CNNI cancelled its Asia-Pacific Primetime Show,News Stream, anchored byKristie Lu Stout, effectively ending production output from its Hong Kong Studios.[13]
In 2022, WarnerMedia closed CNN International in Russia due toRussia's invasion of Ukraine.[14]
There are five variants of CNN International:
The schedules of the different regional versions no longer differ significantly from each other, but there are still minor variations such as content during the commercial breaks (e.g. weather forecasts and local airtimes shown).
CNN has reported that its broadcast agreement in mainland China includes an arrangement that its signal must pass through a Chinese-controlled satellite. With this method of transmission, Chinese authorities have been able to black out CNNI segments at will. CNN has also said that its broadcasts are not widely available in mainland China, but rather only in certain diplomatic compounds, hotels, and apartment blocks.[16]
In June 2015, CNN International was made available online in the United States forCNN/U.S subscribers on participating television providers through the CNNgo service.[17]
In 2023, much of CNN International's original programming was made available through CNN Max, its streaming channel in the United States through the HBO Max streaming service. This allowed viewers to tune in to the channel without a linear pay-TV subscription. On 28 October 2025, CNN International became available part-time on CNN.com and the CNN App to those in the United States who subscribe directly to its CNN All Access tier (weekdays from 09.00 to 17.00 Eastern time).[18]
CNNj is a Japanese version of CNN International distributed byJapan Cable Television that first launched on March 1, 2003. CNNj is tailored specifically for a Japanese audience, with all programming broadcast from 7:00 a.m. to 12:00 a.m. (Japan Standard Time) being translated into Japanese.[19] The channel used to broadcast a mixture of CNN International andCNN/US, but since 2008, CNNj has been a direct relay ofCNN International Asia Pacific.
Starting late 2010, the high-definition feed of CNN US was launched in Japan for American viewers under the name "CNN/US HD", the first such feed available outside of the United States.[20]
Some of the programs produced by CNN/US are not broadcast on CNNI in full.
CNN International HD is thehigh-definition simulcast feed of the channel broadcasting at 1920x1080i, which was launched in September 2012. Before June 3, 2013, only programming from CNN/US was available natively in HD, while shows made for CNN International were produced in4:3576i. In February 2013, the European SD feed of CNN International began broadcasting in widescreen by downscaling the HD feed, which resulted in all 4:3-native programming being broadcast inpillarbox until the June 3 switchover, and finalized on June 17 of the same year, when the switchover was completed.
Following the March 2003 launch ofCNNj, a live relay of CNN/US and CNN International, with simultaneous audio translation into Japanese,[29] starting in late 2010, the high definition feed of CNN/US was launched in Japan under the nameCNN HD.[20] CNN/US (both SD and HD) is also available on Greater China-based satellite serviceDishHD, a subsidiary ofDish Network in the United States.
On June 28, 2016, CNN International HD was launched for Sky customers in the UK (including on Freesat from Sky), on channel 506 or 579, making thenext news channel launch in the 600s. The HD version is available free-to-air within the British Isles, and is provided on satellite and IPTV services, and also live-streamed for U.K. users (and geo-blocked outside the U.K.), through CNN International's official U.K. video site. However, viewers with non-proprietary Freesat boxes will need to add the channel manually as Freesat does not market CNN International HD publicly as part of its offerings.
CNN debuted its news website CNN.com (initially an experiment known asCNN Interactive) on August 30, 1995. The site attracted growing interest over its first decade and is now one of the most popular news websites in the world. The widespread growth ofblogs,social media anduser-generated content have influenced the site, and blogs in particular have focused CNN's previously scattershot online offerings, most noticeably in the development and launch ofCNN Pipeline in late 2005. In April 2009, CNN.com ranked third place among online global news sites in unique users in the U.S. according to Nielsen/NetRatings; with an increase of 11% over the previous year.
CNN Pipeline was the name of a paid subscription service, its corresponding website, and a content delivery client that provided streams of live video from up to four sources (or "pipes"), on-demand access to CNN stories and reports, and optional pop-up "news alerts" to computer users. The installable client was available to users of PCs runningMicrosoft Windows. There was also a browser-based "web client" that did not require installation. In July 2007, the service was discontinued and replaced with a free streaming service.
The now-defunct topical news programJudy Woodruff's Inside Politics was the first CNN program to feature a round-up of blogs in 2005.[30] Blog coverage was expanded whenInside Politics was folded intoThe Situation Room. In 2006, CNN launched CNN Exchange andCNN iReport, initiatives designed to further introduce and centralize the impact of everything fromblogging tocitizen journalism within the CNN brand. CNN iReport which features user-submitted photos and video, has achieved considerable traction, with increasingly professional-looking reports filed by amateur journalists, many still in high school or college. The iReport gained more prominence when observers of theVirginia Tech shootings sent in first-hand photos of what was going on during the shootings.[31]
In early 2008, CNN began maintaining a live-streaming broadcast available to those who receive CNN at home.[32] CNN International is broadcast live, as part of theRealNetworks SuperPass subscription outside the U.S. CNN also offers severalRSS feeds andpodcasts.
On April 18, 2008, CNN.com was targeted by Chinese hackers in retaliation for the channel's coverage of the2008 Tibetan unrest. CNN reported that they took preventive measures after news broke of the impending attack.[33][34] The company was honored at the 2008Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards for development and implementation of an integrated and portable IP-based live, edit and store-and-forward digital newsgathering system.
On October 24, 2009, CNN launched a new version of the CNN.com website, revamping it by adding a new "sign up" option where users may create their user name, a new "CNN Pulse" (beta) feature along a new red color theme.[35] However, most of the news archived on the website has been deleted. CNN also has a channel on the popular video-sharing siteYouTube, which as of October 2025 has 18.7 million subscribers.[36]
In April 2010, CNN announced viaTwitter its upcoming foodblog called "Eatocracy", which will "cover all news related to food – from recalls to health issues to culture."[37] CNN had aninternet relay chat (IRC) network at chat.cnn.com. CNN placed a live chat withBenjamin Netanyahu on the network in 1998.[38]
CNN also maintains awire service known as CNN Wire, a CNN Newsource division.[39]
In parts of the world without a CNN bureau, reports from a local affiliate station are used to file a story.
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Former CNN Beijing and Tokyo bureau chiefRebecca MacKinnon described how the news-gathering priorities of CNN International were skewed to "produce stories and reports that would be of interest to CNN USA." Nevertheless,Jane Arraf, a former correspondent who was with theCouncil on Foreign Relations and later served as a Middle East-based correspondent forAl Jazeera English, noted that when she spoke on international affairs, CNN International would usually give her more airtime than CNN/US. For its part, former CNN executiveEason Jordan has defended CNN International's "international" perspective, saying "No matter what CNN International does, as long as CNN's headquarters is in the United States people are going to say, well, it's an American service. But the reality is that it's an international service based in the United States, and we don't make any apologies about that."[43]
CNN is one of the world's largest news organizations, and its international channel, CNN International is the leading international news channel in terms of viewer reach.[44][45] Unlike the BBC and its network of reporters and bureaus, CNN International makes extensive use of affiliated reporters that are local to, and often directly affected by, the events they are reporting. The effect is a more immediate, less detached style of on-the-ground coverage. This has done little to stem criticism, largely from Middle Eastern nations, that CNN International reports news from apro-American perspective. This is a marked contrast to domestic criticisms that often portray CNN as having a "liberal" or "anti-American" bias.[citation needed]
A Chinese website,anti-cnn.com,[46] had accused CNN and western media in general of biased reporting against China, with the catchphrase "Don't be so CNN" entering the Chineselexicon as meaning one should not be biased and use exaggerated language in describing an event.[47] Pictures used by CNN were allegedly edited to have completely different meanings from the original ones.[48][47] In addition, the channel was accused of largely ignoring pro-China voices during the Olympic Torch Relay debacle in San Francisco.[citation needed]
In October 2011,Amber Lyon gave her claims to the Syrian government news agency SANA that she had been directed by CNN to report selectively, repetitively, and falsely to sway public opinion in favor of direct American aggression against Iran and Syria,[49] and that this was common practice under CNN. She subsequently repeated this claim, addressing the degraded state ofjournalistic ethics in an interview[50][citation needed] during which she also discussed the Bahraini episode, suggesting paid-for content was also taken fromGeorgia, Kazakhstan, and other states, that thewar on terrorism had also been employed as a pretext to pre-empt substantiveinvestigative journalism within the U.S., and that following the Bahrain reporting, her investigative department had been terminated and "reorganized", and her severance andemployee benefits used as a threat to intimidate and attempt to purchase her subsequent silence.
Lyon claimed to have met withTony Maddox, president of CNN International, twice about this issue in 2011 and had claimed that during the second meeting, she was threatened and intimated to stop speaking on the matter.[51] CNN issued a detailed response to Lyon's claims about its coverage of Bahrain.[52]
Lyon also claimed on the Russian news channelRT that CNN reporters, headed by Maddox, have been instructed to over-cover Iran as a form of propaganda, and that CNN International has been paid by the Bahraini government to produce and air news segments intentionally painting them in a positive light.[citation needed]
CNN became the official broadcaster of one of the biggest events of the UAE in 2021 when Dubai was hosting theExpo 2020. The official announcement was made in July 2021.[53] However, months later, human rights organizations began to raise concerns around CNN's participation in the event, pointing out that the CNN was lending its legitimacy to the Emirates' propaganda efforts. Analyzing CNN's coverage of the UAE over 10 months, critics accused the news media of running a PR for the UAE. The rights groups also notified of the UAE's poor human rights and women's rights records They further urged CNN to be transparent about its dealings with the Arab nation.[54][55]
On July 7, 2010,Octavia Nasr, senior Middle East editor and a CNN journalist for 20 years, was fired after she expressed admiration on herTwitter account for a militant Muslim cleric and former Hezbollah leader who had recently died.[56]
At CNN Newsource, we understand what you need to build a differentiated news presence across ALL platforms, whether digital, broadcast or print. That's why CNN Wire provides you with critical stories, images, photos and graphics across a wide range of breaking and topical news.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
