CNN
American cable news network co-founded by Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld in 1980 as the first 24-hour all-news TV channel in the U.S. Owned by Warner Bros. Discovery and led by Mark Thompson, it still trails Fox News in the ratings.
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- Established
- 1980
- Country
- United States
- Founded
- June 1, 1980, by Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld in Atlanta — the first 24-hour all-news TV channel in the U.S.
- Founder
- Ted Turner, who co-founded the network with Reese Schonfeld and died on May 6, 2026, at age 87
- Owner (as of September 30, 2026)
- Warner Bros. Discovery; Paramount Skydance's acquisition had not closed
- Chair and CEO
- Mark Thompson, since October 2023
- Ratings position
- Third among cable news networks in 2026 — 624,000 prime-time viewers in August 2026, up 45.1% year over year
- Top program
- NewsNight with Abby Phillip, averaging 725,000 viewers in August 2026
- Profit
- $892 million in 2022, down from $1.08 billion in 2020
Overview
In May 2023 CNN aired a live town hall with Donald Trump in which the former president repeated false claims about the 2020 election, said he would pardon supporters convicted over the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, and called moderator Kaitlan Collins a “nasty person” while a pro-Trump audience cheered (Al Jazeera). Days later The Atlantic published a lengthy, critical profile of CNN chief Chris Licht headlined “Inside the Tremendous Meltdown at CNN” — described as embarrassing and likely the piece that sealed his fate — and Warner Bros. Discovery fired him on the network’s morning editorial call, effective immediately (Al Jazeera).
That four-week stretch tells you more about CNN’s modern life than the origin story most profiles repeat. CNN is the American cable news network Ted Turner co-founded with Reese Schonfeld in Atlanta on June 1, 1980 — the first U.S. television channel to run news around the clock (Gray News; NPR). It made its name with live coverage of the 1986 Challenger disaster and, five years later, with live reports from Baghdad during the Gulf War that turned it into the default channel for breaking news (NPR).
As of September 30, 2026, CNN belongs to Warner Bros. Discovery — it still sat in the company’s brand portfolio in its second-quarter 2026 results (Warner Bros. Discovery). Paramount Skydance’s roughly $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery was reported in September 2026 as on track to close “in the coming weeks,” but it had not closed, so CNN’s owner on that date was still Warner Bros. Discovery (Reason; New York Post). The network is run by chair and CEO Mark Thompson, the former BBC director-general, who took over in October 2023 (Associated Press).
CNN’s ratings in 2026 tell a two-part story: the audience is growing again, but the gap with the leader is still wide. In August 2026 it averaged 624,000 prime-time viewers — up 45.1% from a year earlier — while Fox News led the category by a distance (Barrett Media).
The 24-hour gamble that worked
In 1980 the idea sounded absurd: a television channel that did nothing but news, all day and night. Ted Turner launched it anyway on June 1, 1980 — co-founding CNN with Reese Schonfeld — from a converted country club in Atlanta, creating America’s first continuous all-news television station (Gray News; NPR).
Two moments made the gamble pay off. When the Challenger shuttle broke apart live on television in 1986, CNN’s continuous coverage gave it national prominence for the first time (NPR). Five years later, its reporters stayed on the air from Baghdad as the Gulf War began, and CNN became the channel the whole world turned to when something big happened (NPR). Turner himself died on May 6, 2026, at 87 (Gray News).
Passed from owner to owner
CNN has changed corporate hands three times since Turner sold it. In 1996 Turner sold Turner Broadcasting — CNN included — to Time Warner for about $7.34 billion (NPR). In June 2018 AT&T completed its acquisition of Time Warner, a deal worth more than $80 billion, and renamed the company WarnerMedia (Indian Retailer). Then in April 2022 WarnerMedia combined with Discovery to form Warner Bros. Discovery, CNN’s current owner (Associated Press).
A fourth change may be coming. In September 2026 Paramount Skydance settled antitrust suits with 12 state attorneys general — California plus 11 other states — over its roughly $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, and the takeover was reported on track to close “in the coming weeks” (Reason; New York Post). Paramount reportedly expects at least $6 billion in cost savings from the merger, which implies several thousand jobs going away (New York Post). None of it had closed as of September 30, 2026.
Three chief executives — and the 2023 meltdown
CNN’s leadership churned hard in 2022 and 2023. Jeff Zucker was pushed out in February 2022 over an undisclosed relationship with a fellow executive (Associated Press). His replacement, Chris Licht, arrived with a mandate to pull the network toward the political center and win back Republican viewers — and lasted about 13 months before being fired in June 2023 (Al Jazeera).
Two episodes ended him. On May 10, 2023, the network broadcast a live town hall with Donald Trump, moderated by Kaitlan Collins. Trump repeated false claims about the 2020 election, said he would pardon many supporters convicted over the January 6, 2021 Capitol attack, and called Collins a “nasty person” as a pro-Trump audience cheered (Al Jazeera). The broadcast drew wide criticism, including from CNN’s own journalists. The network’s morning-show revamp also imploded around the same time, with presenter Don Lemon fired (Al Jazeera).
The final blow was editorial, not ratings. The Atlantic published a lengthy, critical profile of Licht headlined “Inside the Tremendous Meltdown at CNN” — described as embarrassing and likely the piece that sealed his fate (Al Jazeera). Two days earlier Licht had promised on the morning editorial call that he would fight to regain the trust of CNN’s employees; on that same call, Warner Bros. Discovery chief David Zaslav fired him, effective immediately, and installed a four-person interim team — Amy Entelis, Virginia Moseley, Eric Sherling and David Leavy (Al Jazeera). That May, CNN’s prime-time audience had been less than half of rival MSNBC’s, with Fox News still leading the category (Al Jazeera).
The board then reached outside the American cable-news world. On August 30, 2023, CNN appointed Mark Thompson as chair and CEO — the man who ran the BBC as director-general from 2004 to 2012 and then the New York Times as president and CEO — and he started on October 9, 2023 (Associated Press). Thompson was still in the job as of September 23, 2026, when he told staff at a quarterly town hall that he wanted to stay on and be “useful to new bosses” after the Paramount takeover (New York Post).
The CNN+ flameout
One of the shortest-lived experiments in streaming history happened at CNN in the spring of 2022. CNN+ launched on March 29, 2022, backed by about $100 million in development spending and roughly 500 assigned employees — and shut down at the end of April, less than a month later (Associated Press).
Part of the problem was structural: contracts with cable and satellite companies meant CNN could not put its live TV network on the streaming service, so subscribers were paying for a product without the thing CNN is known for (Associated Press). The shutdown landed right as WarnerMedia was combining with Discovery, and the new leadership pulled the plug rather than keep funding it. CNN’s news programming has since been folded into the Max streaming service instead (Associated Press).
Where CNN stands in 2026
The ratings are moving in the right direction, just from a low base. August 2026 brought 624,000 prime-time viewers (up 45.1% year over year) and 437,000 total-day viewers (up 31.6%) (Barrett Media). Its top program that month was NewsNight with Abby Phillip, averaging 725,000 viewers — 24th overall among cable programs, with Fox News sweeping the top six slots (Barrett Media). In the week of September 7, 2026, Nielsen’s big-data-plus-panel figures had CNN at 490,000 prime-time viewers and 77,000 adults 25–54 — fifth among all cable networks in prime time, fourth in total day, with Fox News leading every category and MS NOW (the former MSNBC) second (Adweek).
The business underneath has shrunk since the Trump-era ratings peak: CNN earned $892 million in profit in 2022, down from $1.08 billion in 2020, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence figures cited by the AP (Associated Press). And September 2026 brought a fight with the White House: CNN joined MS NOW and Politico in suing the Trump administration after press credentials were revoked and reporters were banned from White House grounds (New York Post).
What this profile does not claim
- It does not claim Paramount owns CNN — as of September 30, 2026, the roughly $110 billion Warner Bros. Discovery acquisition had not closed.
- It does not claim exact current global reach, subscriber counts, bureau counts, or employee numbers; none were verified in the sources read.
- It does not state a current headquarters city — only the 1980 Atlanta founding location is verified.
- It does not explain why the ratings rose or fell; the sources report the numbers, not the causes.
- It does not state who will run CNN after the Paramount takeover, or repeat speculation about future oversight, as fact.
Timeline
- 1980-06-01
- Ted Turner launches CNN from a converted country club in Atlanta — America's first 24-hour all-news television channel.
- 1986
- Live coverage of the Challenger disaster gives CNN national prominence.
- 1991
- Live coverage from Baghdad during the Gulf War establishes CNN as the default channel for breaking news.
- 1996
- Turner sells Turner Broadcasting, including CNN, to Time Warner for about $7.34 billion.
- 2018-06
- AT&T completes its acquisition of Time Warner — a deal worth more than $80 billion — and renames it WarnerMedia, with CNN in the portfolio.
- 2022-02
- CNN chief Jeff Zucker is pushed out over an undisclosed relationship with a fellow executive.
- 2022-03-29
- CNN+ launches as a standalone streaming service.
- 2022-04
- CNN+ shuts down at the end of April, less than a month after launch, after about $100 million in development costs and with roughly 500 employees assigned; WarnerMedia combines with Discovery to form Warner Bros. Discovery.
- 2023-05-10
- CNN broadcasts a live town hall with Donald Trump, moderated by Kaitlan Collins: Trump repeats false claims about the 2020 election, says he would pardon many supporters convicted over the January 6, 2021 Capitol attack, and calls Collins a "nasty person" as a pro-Trump audience cheers.
- 2023-06
- Chris Licht is fired as CNN chief — effective immediately, on the network's morning editorial call — days after The Atlantic publishes a lengthy, critical profile headlined "Inside the Tremendous Meltdown at CNN"; David Zaslav installs a four-person interim leadership team.
- 2023-08-30
- Mark Thompson — former BBC director-general (2004–2012) and New York Times president and CEO — is appointed chair and CEO.
- 2023-10-09
- Thompson starts as CNN chair and CEO.
- 2026-05-06
- Founder Ted Turner dies at age 87.
- 2026-09
- Paramount Skydance settles antitrust suits with 12 state attorneys general over its roughly $110 billion Warner Bros. Discovery acquisition, with the takeover reported on track to close "in the coming weeks"; Thompson tells staff he wants to stay on under the new owners; CNN joins MS NOW and Politico in suing the Trump administration over revoked White House press credentials.
What we could not verify
These claims came up in research and could not be confirmed. They are recorded here rather than published as fact or quietly dropped. If you hold a source that settles one, please tell us.
- CNN International, CNN en Español, HLN, and other CNN-branded channels were not verified from read sources, so no current channel lineup is given.
- The network's current headquarters city was not verified in read sources; only the 1980 Atlanta founding location is stated.
- The reported editorial-independence board for CNN and CBS in the Paramount deal, and speculation about who might oversee CNN after the takeover, rest on second-hand reporting and are not stated as fact.
- Whether Paramount's acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery closed after September 30, 2026, and on what final terms, was pending at the time of research.
Sources
11 sources (9 tier 2, 1 tier 3, 1 first-party), each opened and read against the claim it supports. Statements the subject makes about itself are marked as such and are not treated as independent evidence. See the source policy.
Built from independent reporting — NPR, the Associated Press, Al Jazeera, Adweek, Barrett Media, Gray News, the New York Post, and Reason — each fetched and read in full for this profile. Warner Bros. Discovery's own quarterly results are used only to confirm CNN's place in its brand portfolio and are marked first-party. The pending Paramount Skydance takeover is reported as pending, not completed, because the sources read show it had not closed as of September 30, 2026.
- Supports: The June 1, 1980 launch from a converted country club in Atlanta; the first continuous all-news TV station in the U.S. and the 24/7 model; the Challenger (1986) and Gulf War Baghdad (1991) milestones; the 1996 Time Warner sale for about $7.34 billion; Turner's death in May 2026 at 87. Open original source
- Supports: Nielsen Big Data + Panel figures for the week of September 7, 2026 — CNN prime-time 490,000 total viewers / 77,000 adults 25–54, total day 349,000 / 49,000; 5th in prime-time and 4th in total day among all cable networks; Fox News leading, MS NOW (formerly MSNBC) second. Open original source
- Supports: Thompson's appointment by David Zaslav and October 9, 2023 start; his BBC (2004–2012) and New York Times background; replacing Chris Licht (fired June 2023) after Jeff Zucker was pushed out in February 2022; CNN profit of $892 million in 2022 versus $1.08 billion in 2020 per S&P Global Market Intelligence; CNN news joining the Max streaming service. Open original source
- Supports: CNN+ launched March 29, 2022 and shut down at the end of April 2022; about $100 million in development costs and roughly 500 employees; the inability to stream the live CNN TV network because of cable and satellite contracts; the WarnerMedia– Discovery combination into Warner Bros. Discovery. Open original source
- Supports: Paramount Skydance's settlement with California and 11 other states over the roughly $110 billion Warner Bros. Discovery acquisition; the merger not yet closed at that stage. Open original source
- Supports: Thompson still CEO as of September 23, 2026; his stated intent to stay on under the new owners; the Paramount takeover on track and expected to close "in the coming weeks"; at least $6 billion in expected cost savings; the CNN/MS NOW/Politico lawsuit against the Trump administration over revoked press credentials. Speculation about future oversight is not used. Open original source
- Supports: August 2026 figures: CNN prime-time 624,000 total viewers (+45.1% year over year), total day 437,000 (+31.6%); NewsNight with Abby Phillip averaging 725,000 viewers, CNN's top program and 24th overall; Fox News sweeping the top six program slots. Open original source
- Supports: Licht's mandate to move CNN toward the political center; the May 10, 2023 Trump town hall (election falsehoods, Jan 6 pardon pledge, "nasty person" aimed at moderator Kaitlan Collins, pro-Trump audience); The Atlantic's lengthy critical profile as the likely cause of Licht's firing; Zaslav's immediate firing on the morning editorial call and the four-person interim team (Amy Entelis, Virginia Moseley, Eric Sherling, David Leavy); May 2023 prime-time viewership under half of MSNBC's; the morning-show revamp and Don Lemon's firing. Open original source
- Supports: Turner co-founding CNN with Reese Schonfeld on June 1, 1980, in Atlanta; Turner's death reported Wednesday, May 6, 2026, at 87. Open original source
- Supports: AT&T completing the Time Warner acquisition in June 2018 (a deal worth more than $80 billion) and renaming it WarnerMedia, with CNN in the portfolio. Open original source
- Supports: CNN listed in Warner Bros. Discovery's brand portfolio as of Q2 2026. WBD-wide figures are not attributed to CNN specifically. Open original source
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