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News streaming is a new form of broadcast news. Its advantages include a flexible audience, timely delivery and archiving. Broadcasters and cable TV networks invested hundreds of millions of dollars in streaming operations.
Streaming offers news at the click of a button. Unlike broadcast, viewers can choose which topics to watch. The result is a customized experience. Moreover, streaming news can be accessed from anywhere. This helps news organizations to archive content.
Despite its advantages, streaming has its detractors. Critics said it will drive viewers away from the traditional media, but the truth is it has already proven to attract a largely niche audience.
For decades, broadcast and cable news was king. But the rise of streaming has put a dent in the old guard. New players, such as Al Jazeera and Newsmax, have entered the streaming frontier. These new competitors may even help to reshape the political coverage of American politics.
One of the first critics of streaming was CNN. When the network launched its new free channel, CNN+, it was criticized for lacking viewers. Instead of creating another free outlet, the network relied on the strength of its existing programming to repurpose it for a streaming audience.
The critics missed a crucial point. As cable’s adoption accelerated, news networks sensed an opportunity to serve the streaming audience. That’s when they began repurposing their cable programming. They also began scheduling regular nightly news programs for streaming viewers.
Now, Fox has tapped into this momentum with its Fox Nation streaming app, which has drawn 1.5 million subscribers. And CBS plans to stream 45,000 hours of local news in 2022.
