CBS Interactive and CBS Television Stations are teaming up to launch CBSN Local, a group of direct-to-consumer streaming services focusing on local news.
The first CBSN Local will launch in the fourth quarter of 2018 in the New York City market in partnership with WCBS, the flagship of the CBS Television Network, and independent sister station WLNY. After that, CBSN Local will launch in Los Angeles followed by other major markets.
Other major markets in which CBS owns and operates CBS stations included Chicago, Denver, Miami, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Philadelphia and San Francisco.
The CBSN Local services will feature ad-supported live streams of CBS Television Stations’ regularly scheduled early morning, daytime and evening newscasts and additional daily newscasts that will be produced exclusively for CBSN Local. CBSN Local programming will be led by anchors and reporters at local CBS Television Stations.
The services will be available through CBSN on CBSNews.com and the CBS News apps for mobile and connected TV devices.
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“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 of 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.”
“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 at CBS, 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.”