HLN- enough already

[recto101]

I've said it before and I'll say it again: CNN needs to get rid of HLN and stop cannibalizing its own audience. HLN's original purpose is now fulfilled quite well by CNN.com and is no longer needed, so it makes little business sense to have it stick around and continue to suck on the parent network's resources and revenue. Besides, the cost savings from either shutting down or selling HLN could be used to make CNN a better product.

All CNN has to do to provide a "better product" is make CNN-International available to the US audience. I spent 2 weeks in Mexico last year, where CNN-I is carried (though they just call it "CNN" there). It's great global news coverage from serious journalists. The only weekday program it seemed to have in common with American CNN was The Situation Room (Wolf Blitzer).

But I believe CNN has determined that insular Americans have no interest in international news and analysis, and running CNN-I programming here would just make their American ratings tank even further. Sadly, they are probably right about that.

As we've seen recently from the increased ratings for HLN, Amercians prefer crime, scandal, and "news analysis" from the likes of Nancy Grace.

I don't think CNN International would work in most parts of the nation except for the coastal areas like NYC, LA, San Francisco, Chiacgo and Philadelphia or even DC and Miami. I do hear that Long Island has BBC world in their cable systems. Well I forgot Houston, San Diego, could also be a market for CNN-I. Al-Jazzera is a good product too but it would only sell in large TV markets.

 

[LKellerIII]

BTW.....If they chose to go the Business News route, they could call it CNN Money to match the website & use a moniker like CNN Money = BUSINESS like they have with CNN's CNN = POLITICS moniker

JMO.....

Cheers

I have this vague memory of CNN-FN (Financial News). So I believe they've already a tried business news network and failed.

 

[azumanga]

I don't think CNN International would work in most parts of the nation except for the coastal areas like NYC, LA, San Francisco, Chiacgo and Philadelphia or even DC and Miami. I do hear that Long Island has BBC world in their cable systems. Well I forgot Houston, San Diego, could also be a market for CNN-I. Al-Jazzera is a good product too but it would only sell in large TV markets.

Kind of chagrinning that middle America would rather hear about sensational court cases and the brouhaha in Washington, rather than hearing about hard news about what's going on in other parts of the world -- or even other parts of their neighborhood, for that manner.

 

[azumanga]

I have this vague memory of CNN-FN (Financial News). So I believe they've already a tried business news network and failed.

Yes, CNN did have such a network back then, with financial news during the day and CNN-I in evenings and weekends (though always listed as "Off the air", for some reason). The station closed down a few years back, and while there was some speculation that CNN-I would replace it, it never the did -- the channel simply went dark.

 

[LKellerIII]

I have this vague memory of CNN-FN (Financial News). So I believe they've already a tried business news network and failed.

Yes, CNN did have such a network back then, with financial news during the day and CNN-I in evenings and weekends (though always listed as "Off the air", for some reason). The station closed down a few years back, and while there was some speculation that CNN-I would replace it, it never the did -- the channel simply went dark.

OK - thanks for the memory jog. Seeing CNN-I in Mexico last year, some of the anchors were familiar to me and I knew I'd seen the channel somewhere before. Comcast (or its predecessor in my area) must have carried that combo for awhile.

 

[recto101]

Remember Comcast sports, ESPN, and Fox Sports they did a Nancy Grace act on Barry Bonds and the Baseball players that took steroids. They had hype similar to what Grace did to Casey Anthony. In the Bonds case it was he and other MLB players wanted to keep his "secrets to Success" from leaking out to the public like taking steroids or unknowingly take steroids. This even lead to C-Span covering congress doing a Nancy Grace style interrogation on the MLB players and trainers from 2004-2006? They've been doing Nancy Grace act on the MLB all the way to 2011 when Bonds in an SF was found Guilty for perjury.

 

[MarcB]

I don't get HLN (it's in a more expensive tier than I subscribe to), but today it was replacing a blacked-out Phillies-Mets Game on TBS (Channel 16) and it was non-stop about Casey Anthony being released from jail and "where is she now?". It was 15 hours after they let her out of jail and they were still calling it "Breaking News", which by the way is absurd. It's not breaking news any more than when FOX News used to call President Bush boarding Air Force One "Breaking News." Furthermore - who cares where that woman Casey Anthony is now? It's no one's business aside from her attorneys. And during the commercial breaks they promoed Jane Velez-Mitchell's show for this week and Nancy Grace's show and both are still gonna be cover Casey Anthony.


Now would be the time for Time Warner to blow-up HLN and launch a new network. Perhaps a 24/7 Adult Swim Channel so they would no longer be sharing time with Cartoon Network.

 

[searadiofreak]

I don't get HLN (it's in a more expensive tier than I subscribe to), but today it was replacing a blacked-out Phillies-Mets Game on TBS (Channel 16) and it was non-stop about Casey Anthony being released from jail and "where is she now?". It was 15 hours after they let her out of jail and they were still calling it "Breaking News", which by the way is absurd. It's not breaking news any more than when FOX News used to call President Bush boarding Air Force One "Breaking News." Furthermore - who cares where that woman Casey Anthony is now? It's no one's business aside from her attorneys. And during the commercial breaks they promoed Jane Velez-Mitchell's show for this week and Nancy Grace's show and both are still gonna be cover Casey Anthony.


Now would be the time for Time Warner to blow-up HLN and launch a new network. Perhaps a 24/7 Adult Swim Channel so they would no longer be sharing time with Cartoon Network.

I don't "get" HLN either, but not the same reasons.
The coverage of her getting out of jail was probably a story at midnight EDT, and perhaps a quick replay the following morning, but it will be shown again and again on HLN for days to come. Why? Nothing happened. Nobody tried to assasinate her. The story is done. But HLN will go on and on milking this until it is dry.

 

[Silkie]

Can't make it as an attorney? Go to journalism. Can't make it in journalism? Just go on the air in some incarnation or the other and be a troublemaker or scandal monger.

 

[recto101]

Can't make it as an attorney? Go to journalism. Can't make it in journalism? Just go on the air in some incarnation or the other and be a troublemaker or scandal monger.

Now that Casey is out of Prison she can tell us on the secrets of HLN to us as a state witness or in a civil lawsuit against HLN and turn the tables on Nancy Grace. At some point Nancy Grace, HLN and Time Warner will get exposed the same way that News of the World, News Corp and Rupert Murdoch got exposed in the UK. I'm not surprised that HLN did phone hacking too by the way Nancy Grace was so obsessed by Anthony for almost 4 years now.

 

[LKellerIII]

Can't make it as an attorney? Go to journalism. Can't make it in journalism? Just go on the air in some incarnation or the other and be a troublemaker or scandal monger.

Now that Casey is out of Prison she can tell us on the secrets of HLN to us as a state witness or in a civil lawsuit against HLN and turn the tables on Nancy Grace. At some point Nancy Grace, HLN and Time Warner will get exposed the same way that News of the World, News Corp and Rupert Murdoch got exposed in the UK. I'm not surprised that HLN did phone hacking too by the way Nancy Grace was so obsessed by Anthony for almost 4 years now.

?
Who has accused HLN or Nancy Grace of phone-hacking? Or are you trying to say "I wouldn't be surprised if HLN did phone hacking."

Personally, I can't stand Nancy Grace, but I don't think you can analogize Grace and HLN to the News Corp scandals. Different people, different corporations - the only connection being that they both deal in tablod sensationalism.

And I don't think Casey Anthony has any legal recourse against Nancy Grace, who is just stating her own opinions and speculation - that Anthony is guilty, which is (by the way) the opinion of most Americans.

 

[recto101]

Can't make it as an attorney? Go to journalism. Can't make it in journalism? Just go on the air in some incarnation or the other and be a troublemaker or scandal monger.

Now that Casey is out of Prison she can tell us on the secrets of HLN to us as a state witness or in a civil lawsuit against HLN and turn the tables on Nancy Grace. At some point Nancy Grace, HLN and Time Warner will get exposed the same way that News of the World, News Corp and Rupert Murdoch got exposed in the UK. I'm not surprised that HLN did phone hacking too by the way Nancy Grace was so obsessed by Anthony for almost 4 years now.

?
Who has accused HLN or Nancy Grace of phone-hacking? Or are you trying to say "I wouldn't be surprised if HLN did phone hacking."

Personally, I can't stand Nancy Grace, but I don't think you can analogize Grace and HLN to the News Corp scandals. Different people, different corporations - the only connection being that they both deal in tablod sensationalism.

And I don't think Casey Anthony has any legal recourse against Nancy Grace, who is just stating her own opinions and speculation - that Anthony is guilty, which is (by the way) the opinion of most Americans.

OK its was just my opinion on Grace and HLN but I'm still suspicious in HLN's tactics on anthony. and I have no direct proof that grace really did this.