CNN Targets Cord-Cutters In Canada With Streaming Launch

It’s the end of an era in Canada as CNN has decided to go direct to consumers and launch its All Access premium subscription service north of the border from Oct. 20.

As with the U.S. market, where the All Access service launched a year ago, Canadian subscribers will gain access to live streaming video and the news division’s library of video content, alongside complete access to CNN’s digital products. The Canadian premium subscription service will cost CAN$7.99 (US$5.65) a month, or CAN$79.99 (US$56.50) annually, with a discounted introductory price for the first year.

The upshot is CNN, long a mainstay of Canadian cable TV packages and led by CEO Mark Thompson, is finally going digitally over the top to reach the country. Canadian cable TV subscribers will still be able to access CNN the old school way.

But given the increasing drop in traditional linear TV revenue north of the border, and as subscription video-on-demand revenue increasingly drives business models, CNN is reacting to cord-cutting and cord-nevers in rolling out its All Access subscription offering in Canada.

With young Canadians especially cutting the cable cord, it’s the end of an era elsewhere for the Canadian industry. Cable and telco giant Rogers Communications recently chose against renewing the broadcast of Saturday night National Hockey League games on the CBC, a Hockey Night in Canada tradition for the public broadcaster begun in 1952. Rogers will instead shift Saturday night NHL games to its Sportsnet and digital platforms to drive sport rights revenues.

In the U.S. market, CNN also remains part of the cable TV package after the All Access premium subscription tier being introduced stateside in Oct. 2025. And besides getting live feeds of U.S. and CNN Intentional programing that airs on TV, Canadian digital subscribers will get exclusive video-on-demand content and a library of CNN original series and CNN Films.

Canadian subscribers will also have unlimited access to all text, audio and video content on its site and the CNN app, including subscriber-only content such as exclusive distinctive reporting and feature stories.

The international expansion for CNN into Canada and the UK, coming ahead of peak interest in the U.S. midterm elections, also follows CNN now headed to the Skydance fold after the acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery.

That has CNN’s parent looking to offset falling cable TV revenue in Canada with new revenue from digital subscriptions. “CNN’s reputation as a premium, trusted name in news is unparalleled around the globe. We’re excited to provide these audiences with a simple way to access our live 24/7 channel and global reporting in one place,” Alex MacCallum, COO of CNN Worldwide, said in a statement. “Following the enthusiastic reception of this offering in the U.S., expanding first to the U.K. and Canada has been our top international expansion priority as we continue to invest in and grow our direct-to-consumer business.”