On the company’s Q2 earnings call this afternoon, CBS Television Stations and CBS Interactive announced their intention to accelerate their rollout of CBSN Local, the network’s local OTT streaming news services, in all 13 major U.S. markets where CBS Television Stations have operations by early 2020.
CBSN Local, which features 24/7 anchored programming, coverage of live breaking news events in the region, as well as an extensive library of local news content that is available for on-demand viewing, first launched in New York last December, and Los Angeles launched this past June. CBSN Boston is expected to launch soon, and CBSN San Francisco Bay Area scheduled to make its debut during Q4.
The nine markets included are Chicago (local news content provided by WBBM-TV), Dallas-Ft. Worth (KTVT-TV), Philadelphia (KYW and WPSG-TV), Minneapolis-St. Paul (WCCO-TV), Denver (KCNC-TV), Miami (WFOR-TV), Sacramento (KOVR and KMAX-TV), Pittsburgh (KDKA and WPCW-TV) and Baltimore (WJZ-TV).
As with New York and L.A., each CBSN Local service will be available on CBSN, on CBSNews.com and on the CBS News apps for mobile and connected TV devices, and the CBS Local mobile app.
“The early success of CBSN New York and CBSN Los Angeles has exceeded our expectations,” said CBS Television Stations president Peter Dunn. “It is clear there is significant demand for high-quality local news coverage on streaming services, and we are moving forward with excitement as we prepare to launch CBSN Local services in all 13 of our local news markets. Our accelerated rollout schedule ensures launches in all of these markets ahead of the 2020 political primaries and elections.”
CBSN Local stations are ad-supported. They complement CBS’ other streaming services, CBSN, CBS Sports HQ and ET Live, and will ultimately be included as live channels in CBS All Access in their respective markets.
“Access to reliable local news is a priority for our audiences from coast to coast,” said CBS News digital evp and gm Christy Tanner. “The ability to now provide our viewers with authoritative reporting on communities across America through individual streaming channels as we head into 2020 is a pivotal milestone in CBSN’s evolution as the premier 24/7 streaming news service.”
Tanner is also in charge of CBSN, the national 24/7 streaming news service from CBS News and CBS Interactive. launched in November 2014 with CBS This Morning Saturday host Jeff Glor at the helm.
Anne-Marie Green and Vlad Duthiers are now the primary co-anchors for the national streaming news service.