CBS said it’s building on the success of its streaming news service CBSN with plans to launch a suite of direct-to-consumer streaming services centered on local news coverage.
CBS Television Stations and CBS Interactive said the new service, CBSN Local, will first launch in the New York City market in partnership with WCBS and independent sister station WLNY during the fourth quarter of 2018. It will then be rolled out in Los Angles with KCBS and KCAL, followed by other major markets.
CBSN Local services will be accessible via CBSN on CBSNews.com and the CBS News apps for mobile devices and connected TVs, and through CBS Television Stations’ websites and mobile apps.
The local services will feature daily newscasts created exclusively for CBSN Local, in addition to live streams of regularly scheduled morning, daytime and evening newscasts from CBS Television Stations. Programming on the ad-supported networks will be led by anchors and reporters at local CBS Television Stations. The service will also feature a library of on-demand content.
“CBSN Local is the exciting next chapter in how our stations will serve audiences seeking local news on all of the most popular content consumption platforms,” said Peter Dunn, president at CBS Television Stations, in a statement. “These streaming local news services will be a terrific companion to the award-winning national and global news reporting provided by CBSN. Working together, we look forward to making the outstanding local news coverage produced by our stations available to a wider audience, anytime and anywhere people want to view it.”
CBS said that ultimately CBSN Local services will be included as live channels in CBS All Access in their respective markets.
“CBSN’s tremendous success in attracting a growing and engaged audience of viewers across all platforms paved the way for us to bring our direct-to-consumer strategy to local markets,” said Jim Lanzone, CEO of CBS Interactive and Chief Digital Officer of CBS Corporation, in a statement. “The addition of CBSN Local services delivering high-quality coverage from our stations around the country will bring a new level of depth to CBSN’s 24/7 original reporting.”
