WCCO-TV Launches New Streaming Service CBSN Minnesota
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- CBS Television Stations and CBS Interactive today announced the launch of CBSN Minnesota, the fifth of CBS' 13 local direct-to-consumer streaming news services in major markets across the country. CBSN Minnesota features anchored programming, coverage of live breaking news events in the region, as well as an extensive library of local news content that will be available for on-demand viewing.
CBS became the first major media company to launch a local OTT news service when CBSN New York debuted in December 2018. Since then, the Company has launched CBSN Los Angeles (June 2019), CBSN Boston (September 2019) and CBSN San Francisco Bay Area (November 2019). Following today's launch of CBSN Minnesota, CBSN Philadelphia is scheduled to make its debut in January. By early 2020, CBS plans to launch CBSN Local services in the seven remaining markets where the Company has a local television news organization, including Chicago, Dallas-Ft. Worth, Denver, Miami, Sacramento, Pittsburgh and Baltimore.
CBSN Minnesota's lineup includes live streams of WCCO's regularly scheduled newscasts and coverage of breaking news.
"WCCO has for many years had an outstanding legacy in local news and serving the community. We are very happy to broaden its reach from local to national by making the station's premium local content available on our streaming platform," said Peter Dunn, President, CBS Television Stations.
"Research shows strong demand for OTT content here in the Twin Cities. We are thrilled to have this opportunity to make our award-winning news programming available, both here at home and across the country, for people to watch on their favorite platforms whenever and wherever they want the latest news from WCCO," said Ann Ouellette, Vice President and General Manager, WCCO-TV.
CBSN Minnesota is available through CBSN, on CBSNews.com and on the CBS News apps for mobile and connected TV devices. In addition, the service is available through www.WCCO.com and the CBS Local mobile app.
CBSN Minnesota and the portfolio of CBSN Local services build on the success of CBSN, the pioneering 24/7 streaming news service from CBS News and CBS Interactive that delivers live national and global news coverage and in-depth reporting from CBS News' team of trusted journalists. Launched in November 2014, the platform continues to drive strong and sustained viewership growth, delivering a record nearly 400 million total streams in 2018.
CBSN Local services are ad-supported. They complement CBS' other streaming services, CBSN, CBS Sports HQ and ET Live, and will ultimately be included as live channels in CBS All Access in their respective markets.