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CNN’s Sequelitis

The imminent launch of Mark Thompson’s “All Access” streaming service recalls all the familiar questions that plagued CNN+: Can subscriptions save CNN from its post-linear malaise? Does anyone really want this? And is it all too little, too late?

Mark Thompson CNN
One wonders how much longer Mark Thompson intends to stick around and suffer this indignity. I suspect the pay is pretty good, and given how fast things change in this business, maybe he’d like to keep his options open. Photo: Shannon Finney/Getty Images for Semafor
Dylan Byers
October 17, 2025

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On Thursday morning, CNN C.E.O. Mark Thompson joined the 9 a.m. editorial call and announced an October 28 launch date for the network’s new “All Access” streaming service—a $6.99-a-month tier that gives subscribers access to CNN’s live and on-demand programming, including a feed of the network’s linear broadcast. The news was both long-awaited—nearly four years earlier, former CNN president Jeff Zucker and his team had tried to stand up a very similar offering in CNN+—and unremarkable. When CNN+ launched, then-digital chief Andrew Morse described it as “the most important launch for CNN since Ted Turner launched the network in June of 1980.” This time around, no one even pretended to be under such illusions.