HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

HLN is an American
basic cable Cable television first became available in the United States in 1948. By 1989, 53 million U.S. households received cable television subscriptions, with 60 percent of all U.S. households doing so in 1992. with Data by SNL Kagan shows that about 58 ...
network. Owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, the network primarily carries true crime programming. The channel was originally launched on January 1, 1982 by Turner Broadcasting as CNN2 (later renamed Headline News or CNN Headline News), a sister network to CNN that broadcast a looping, half-hour cycle of segments covering various news topics. In 2005, HLN began to diverge from this format and air more personality-based programs, including a
primetime Prime time or the peak time is the block of broadcast programming taking place during the middle of the evening for a television show. It is mostly targeted towards adults (and sometimes families). It is used by the major television networks to ...
block featuring pundits such as
Glenn Beck Glenn Lee Beck (born February 10, 1964) is an American conservative political commentator, radio host, entrepreneur, and television producer. He is the CEO, founder, and owner of Mercury Radio Arts, the parent company of his television and rad ...
and legal commentator Nancy Grace. In the mid-2010s, HLN repositioned itself as a social media-centric network, highlighting headlines popular on social networks, and introducing social media-themed shows. Under CNN president
Jeff Zucker Jeffrey Adam Zucker (born April 9, 1965) is an American former media executive. Between January 2013 and February 2022, Zucker was the president of CNN Worldwide. Zucker oversaw CNN, CNN International, HLN, and CNN Digital. He was previously C ...
, the channel began to backpedal on this programming in 2016, gradually shifting to a focus on crime, "regional" headlines, and entertainment stories (in contrast to CNN's current focus on politics) during its daytime programming, with the remainder of its lineup being devoted primarily to true crime programming. With the 2022 merger of CNN parent WarnerMedia and Discovery Inc. to form Warner Bros. Discovery, HLN became a sister to Discovery's true crime channel Investigation Discovery (ID). In December 2022, new CNN president
Chris Licht Christopher Andrew Licht (born October 22, 1971) is an American television newsman and producer. Since May 2022, he has been the chairman and CEO of CNN. He is best known as the showrunner and executive producer of ''The Late Show With Stephen Co ...
announced that HLN would abandon original live news programming entirely as part of a reorganization, with HLN now being overseen by ID's staff, and news programming limited to a simulcast of '' CNN This Morning'' for contractual reasons. As of September 2018, HLN was available to approximately 88.7 million households (92.5 percent of pay television subscribers) in the United States. Since the mid-2000s, HLN has been available internationally on pay television providers in parts of Asia, the Caribbean, Latin America, the Middle East, North Africa, and Canada.


History


Launch and early years

The channel was launched at midnight Eastern Time on January 1, 1982, as CNN2. The channel's launch was simulcast nationwide on sister networks CNN and Superstation WTBS (now simply TBS), starting at 11:45 p.m. on December 31, 1981, as a preview for cable providers that had not yet reached agreements to carry CNN2. Following a preview reel by original CNN anchor Lou Waters and an introduction by founder and then-Turner Broadcasting CEO Ted Turner, Chuck Roberts (who would become the channel's longest-serving news anchor, with a 28-year career with CNN2/Headline News that lasted until his retirement on July 30, 2010) and Denise LeClair – anchored the channel's first newscast. Originally, the channel's programming was formatted around the idea that a viewer could tune in at any time of day or night (instead of having to wait for the once- or twice-daily national news segments in local newscasts, or morning or evening network news programs), and receive up-to-date information on the top national and international stories in just 30 minutes. This "Headline News Wheel" format featured: :00 - national and world news; :15 - business and personal finance reports ("Dollars and Sense"); :20 - sports scores and headlines ("Headline Sports"); and :25 - lifestyle reports (from :30, this news wheel was repeated all over again). The :25/:55 lifestyle segment was designed to allow local cable systems the option of pre-empting it with a local headline "capsule" from an associated regional cable news channel or a local television station. Another regular feature, the "
Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...
Minute", was often fitted-in after the "Headline Sports" segment. In the channel's early years, a two-minute recap of the hour's top stories, the "CNN Headlines," would run after the sports segment. On August 9, 1982, what had been called "CNN-2" during its first few months on the air was renamed Headline News. During much of the mid-1980s, it was referred to as "CNN Headline News." At some point in the late 1980s, circa 1988, some newspapers began referring to the channel as "HLN Headline News." By 1992, the channel was often abbreviated as "HN" (the channel would later incorporate a die-cut "HN" block design within the original variant of its third logo when it was introduced in 1989, before it was fully supplanted by the wordmark that accompanied it in 1992, which was later italicized). During its first year, Headline News had a competitor in the form of ABC/ Group W's Satellite News Channel, which operated from June 21, 1982, to October 27, 1983. After its shutdown, SNC's satellite slot was then purchased by Ted Turner to expand Headline News' reach further into additional homes. Shortly after, sister station WTBS handed production duties for their ''NewsWatch'' news capsules to Headline News by 1983 (resulting in these updates becoming voiceover-only), and at various times, other specialized news capsules produced by Headline News aired as well. These segments were phased out by 1996. WTBS also carried a half-hour simulcast of Headline News at 6 AM every day for many years, and would sometimes broadcast Headline News as filler (using the ''NewsWatch'' intro and outro) before movies or live sporting events. Jon Petrovich was hired in the mid-1980s by Turner to lead Headline News. In 1990, Headline News developed ''Local Edition'', a six-minute-long local newscast, whose content was produced by a local broadcast station in the participating market, airing at the end of each half-hour of Headline News' rolling news block. The channel included the "CNN" branding in its name intermittently for most of its history, before being incorporated on a regular basis from 1997 to 2007 (though an alternate logo without the CNN logo was used for news broadcasts through 2001). In 1989, Headline News introduced a ticker that appeared at the lower one-third of the screen – except during commercial breaks, which initially showed
stock market A stock market, equity market, or share market is the aggregation of buyers and sellers of stocks (also called shares), which represent ownership claims on businesses; these may include ''securities'' listed on a public stock exchange, as ...
data with indexes of the major
stock exchange A stock exchange, securities exchange, or bourse is an exchange where stockbrokers and traders can buy and sell securities, such as shares of stock, bonds and other financial instruments. Stock exchanges may also provide facilities for th ...
s (including the Dow Jones Industrial Average,
NASDAQ The Nasdaq Stock Market () (National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations Stock Market) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the US by volume, and ranked second ...
and the S&P 500) and quotes for major companies during trading hours, which were updated on a 15-minute delay. In 1992, the channel added the "Headline News SportsTicker", which showed sports scores and schedules for the day's upcoming games, creating the first continuous news ticker on television. The redesign resulted in video of the rolling newscasts becoming
pillarbox The pillarbox effect occurs in widescreen video displays when black bars (mattes or masking) are placed on the sides of the image. It becomes necessary when film or video that was not originally designed for widescreen is shown on a widescreen ...
ed with blue bars on the left and right wings of the screen (matching the ticker's original coloring), before it returned to a full-screen format, with the ticker becoming a translucent black background overlaid on the lower third of the video, as part of a 1994 update to the channel's graphics package that also added weather forecasts for select major U.S. cities to the ticker. At the same time, the network's bug was integrated into the ticker, and thus, the logo was no longer used in the copyright at the end of each broadcast. Like CNN, the parent company Turner Broadcasting System was acquired by Time Warner in 1996.


George H. W. Bush death hoax

On January 8, 1992, Headline News almost became the victim of a hoax. When President
George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushSince around 2000, he has been usually called George H. W. Bush, Bush Senior, Bush 41 or Bush the Elder to distinguish him from his eldest son, George W. Bush, who served as the 43rd president from 2001 to 2009; pr ...
fainted at a state dinner in Tokyo, Japan, a person claiming to be the president's physician called into the channel's Atlanta headquarters and claimed that Bush had died. At 9:45 a.m., anchor Don Harrison prepared to break the story, stating "This just in to CNN Headline News, and we say right off the bat, we have not confirmed this through any other sources..."
Executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the making of a commercial entertainment product. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights o ...
Roger Bahre, who was off-camera, immediately yelled "No! Stop!" After glancing away momentarily, Harrison continued, "We are now getting a correction. We will not give you that story. It was regarding some rather tragic news involving President Bush, but updating that story, President Bush is reported to be resting comfortably." It turned out that an Idaho man, James Edward Smith, called CNN posing as the president's physician. A CNN employee entered the information into a centralized computer used by both CNN and Headline News, and it nearly got out on the air before it could be verified. Smith was subsequently questioned by the Secret Service and hospitalized at a private medical facility for evaluation.


Jukebox effect

In 1992, Headline News pioneered the use of a digital video " jukebox" to recycle segments of one newscast seamlessly into another. The new technology reduced the number of staffers needed by enabling news segments to be re-used throughout an entire day (previously, anchors read the same stories repeatedly, hour after hour, with the second 15 minutes of each half-hour in the "wheel" being broadcast on videotape every third and fourth hour). This resulted in the layoffs of part of its staff, including such
stalwart Stalwart is an adjective synonymous with ''"strong"''. It may also refer to: Relating to people: * Stalwart (politics), member of the most patronage-oriented faction of the United States Republican Party in the late 19th century In ships and mil ...
anchors as
Lyn Vaughn Lyndell Elois Vaughn is an American broadcast journalist most notable for her stint as a news anchor and reporter at CNN Headline News in Atlanta from December 1984 to June 1998. Her unflappable composure and distinct delivery led to mentions in ...
, David Goodnow and
Bob Losure Robert C. "Bob" Losure (May 4, 1947 – July 19, 2019) was a weekend anchor on ''CNN Headline News'' from 1986 to 1997. Earlier in his career he worked as co-anchor of the evening news at KOTV, the CBS affiliate in his hometown of Tulsa, Oklahoma ...
, all of whom had been with Headline News for over 10 years.


1999 reformatting

On June 15, 1999, the network underwent a complete visual revamp, including an updated ticker (now dubbed the "Superticker"), a brand-new newsroom and studio, and a sectioning of the channel's schedule into four distinct dayparts, to convey the idea that, unlike CNN, which aired long-form programming such as discussion shows and documentaries, Headline News never stopped offering straight news coverage. The daypart blocks each ran for six hours and utilized their own special branding and color-coding (which extended to the graphics and segment introductions): ''First Watch'' (from 6:00 a.m.-12 midday Eastern Time, colored yellow), ''Second Watch'' (12 midday - 6:00 p.m. ET, colored red), ''Third Watch'' (6:00 p.m.-12 midnight ET, colored green), and ''Late Watch'' (12 midnight - 6:00 a.m. ET, colored blue). Additional segments were also added prior to commercial breaks: ''Best Bets On...'', which provided top picks in categories such as films (with information supplied by publications owned by then-sister company Time Inc.), and ''Week-At-A-Glance'', which provided summaries of important events occurring that week. To promote the change, two new slogans were introduced: ''Get-To-The-Point News'' and ''24-Hour Non-Stop Headlines'' (the latter frequently used in ident bumpers).


2001 re-launch

On August 6, 2001, CNN Headline News unveiled a revamp of the network's on-air format, promoted with a new slogan, ''Real news, real fast''. The centerpiece of the new format was the replacement of the network's ticker with a large pane across the bottom of the screen, which displayed headlines and other information (such as weather updates and sports news). The network also introduced another new studio and multi-anchor format, and announced plans to add more live rolling news coverage. CNN described the new design as being inspired by the
internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a ''internetworking, network of networks'' that consists ...
, in an attempt to appeal to younger viewers; the ''
Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television a ...
'' noted that the channel's viewership had been dropping, and skewing towards viewers over 50, which are not desirable to most advertisers. Upon its launch, the new format received mixed reviews, with critics arguing that the new screen format conveyed too much information at once, distracting viewers from its main video programming. Critics also drew comparisons to financial news channels (such as CNBC,
CNNfn CNNfn (fn = financial news) was an American cable television news network operated by the CNN subsidiary of the media conglomerate Time Warner from December 29, 1995, and of AOL Time Warner until December 15, 2004. The network was dedicated to co ...
,
Bloomberg Television Bloomberg Television (on-air as Bloomberg) is an American-based pay television network focusing on business and capital market programming, owned by Bloomberg L.P. It is distributed globally, reaching over 310 million homes worldwide. It is he ...
,
C-SPAN Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN ) is an American cable and satellite television network that was created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a nonprofit public service. It televises many proceedings of the United States ...
and TechTV), as well as a similar increase in on-screen information announced by ESPNews. Steve Johnson of the ''Chicago Tribune'' explained that "the video portion of Headline News' subdivided screen occupies only about a third of the total real estate. My 27-inch set shrinks, in effect, to a 14-incher when tuned to Headline News. Never mind the old-school problem of trying to spot the hockey puck; people with smaller sets watching sports highlights here will have trouble finding a basketball."


2005–2013: ''Headline Prime'', "News and Views"

In February 2005, the network launched a new primetime block known as ''Headline Prime''; the block was designed to feature opinion-driven and personality-based programs (in contrast to the " hard news" programming of CNN), which network executive Ken Jautz described as a shift to "news to views". Its launch lineup featured '' Prime News Tonight'', the entertainment news program '' Showbiz Tonight'' with A. J. Hammer, and an eponymous current affairs program hosted by legal commentator Nancy Grace, which featured news and analysis related to crime and court cases. Noam Cohen of '' The New York Times'' described the new lineup as being reminiscent of
Fox News Channel The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is owne ...
. In May 2006, ''Headline Prime'' added an eponymous program hosted by conservative talk radio host
Glenn Beck Glenn Lee Beck (born February 10, 1964) is an American conservative political commentator, radio host, entrepreneur, and television producer. He is the CEO, founder, and owner of Mercury Radio Arts, the parent company of his television and rad ...
. Both ''Nancy Grace'' and ''Glenn Beck'' brought major ratings gains to Headline News, especially within the key demographics, although its daytime programming only saw modest increases. ''Exposed: The Extremist Agenda'', a Glenn Beck special aired in November 2006, broke a million viewers and was the network's most-watched program of the year. That year, HLN also launched a morning show hosted by Robin Meade, ''Robin & Company''—which was later re-branded as '' Morning Express'' in 2007. On December 15, 2008, in conjunction with CNN's own graphics changes, Headline News replaced its news ticker with a "flipper", which featured an RSS feed of the current headlines on its parent network's website, CNN.com. The same day, a new square logo with a triangular appendage (making it resemble a speech bubble) overlaid by an "HLN" acronym was introduced, initially alongside the channel's full name. Two days later, the "Headline News" name was removed from on-air use with the HLN acronym becoming the channel's name full-time, and a new slogan, "News and Views", was introduced. In September 2010,
Scott Safon Scot Safon is an American media executive who formerly served as President of HLN and Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer of CNN. In March 2018, Safon was named Chief Marketing Officer of UPtv. Early life and education Safon w ...
was named as president of HLN, succeeding Ken Jautz (who was promoted to president of the main CNN channel). On November 4, 2011, HLN launched its own website at HLNtv.com, which featured content related to HLN television programs, and other "must see and must share" stories. In May 2012, HLN acquired the rights to broadcast the Daytime Emmy Awards, beginning with the 39th annual event on June 23, 2012; this marked the first time that the awards ceremony was aired on pay television, instead of terrestrial television. With 912,000 viewers (not counting four repeat broadcasts, which brought the total to two million), the broadcast was "the most watched regularly scheduled, non-news telecast" ever on HLN.


Casey Anthony and Conrad Murray trials

''Nancy Grace'' would achieve notoriety for its extensive coverage of the disappearance and death of two year-old Caylee Anthony; HLN was credited with having "almost single-handedly inflated the Anthony case from a routine local murder into a national obsession". HLN subsequently devoted a significant amount of coverage to the murder trial against Caylee's mother Casey Anthony—whom Grace referred to as the "tot mom" on-air—including live gavel-to-gavel coverage, followed by continued coverage and commentary during primetime programs such as ''Nancy Grace''. HLN reached an average audience of 982,000 viewers in June 2011, and ''Nancy Grace'' experienced an 80% increase in viewership—second only to '' The O'Reilly Factor'' on Fox News in its time slot. During the reading of the verdict on July 5, 2011, HLN achieved a record-high peak audience of 5.2 million viewers, while ''Nancy Grace'' achieved a record-high 2.9 million viewers, beating other basic cable news channels (including Fox News) in the 8 p.m. hour. HLN executive vice president Scot Safon called the trial "a gigantic deal" for the network. Later that year, HLN provided similar coverage for the trial of
Conrad Murray Conrad Robert Murray (born February 19, 1953) is a Grenadian former cardiologist who was the personal physician of Michael Jackson at the time of his death in 2009. Murray was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter for improperly administe ...
, who was accused of prescribing the drugs that caused the death of Michael Jackson. Although the Conrad Murray trial did not initially have as strong of an impact on ratings as the Casey Anthony trial, viewership began to increase during the testimony phase, and HLN reported that 2.1 million viewers were watching the network during the reading of the guilty verdict. The network reported a 98% year-over-year gain in viewership for the month of October 2011.


2013–2015: Focus on social media

Albie Hecht joined HLN as Executive Vice President and GM in September 2013. In November 2013, consumer advocate Clark Howard ended his five-year relationship with HLN, including his appearances on ''Morning Express with Robin Meade'' and ''Evening Express'' as well as his own eponymous weekend afternoon program. The move came in response to planned changes occurring at HLN, which sought to re-position the network as the "first TV home for the social media generation." Throughout 2014, HLN's news content began to skew towards millennials, with an increasing focus on content popular on social networks alongside major headlines. For a period, HLN also aired ''
RightThisMinute ''Right This Minute'' (alternatively abbreviated as ''RTM'') was an American syndicated television program that debuted on September 12, 2011. Produced by MagicDust Television in conjunction with television station groups Cox Media Group, Gray ...
'', a
syndicated Syndication may refer to: * Broadcast syndication, where individual stations buy programs outside the network system * Print syndication, where individual newspapers or magazines license news articles, columns, or comic strips * Web syndication, ...
program focusing on viral videos. In June 2014, Time Warner made a bid to acquire a stake in Vice Media, with an intent for the company to take over and relaunch HLN. Time Warner abandoned the deal in August, and Vice subsequently partnered with A&E Networks to launch Viceland in 2016. These plans culminated on January 13, 2015, when HLN underwent a major revamp in its programming and on-air presentation; the network introduced several new social media-themed programs, including the new afternoon block ''The Daily Share'', ''Jack Vale: Offline'' – a docusoap following YouTuber Jack Vale, Ali Nejad's ''The Social Life'', and ''Keywords'', a social media-themed game show hosted by
Summer Sanders Summer Elisabeth Sanders (born October 13, 1972) is an American sports commentator, reporter, television personality, actress, former competition swimmer and Olympic champion from 1992. Early life Sanders was born in Roseville, California, a ...
. HLN also adopted an updated logo, and introduced a new set at Studio 7 of the CNN Center, used by ''Morning Express'' and ''The Daily Share''. The new studio had a " coffee house"-styled design with no traditional anchor desk, and a "Social Circle" designed to encourage interaction between hosts and guests. T-Mobile US also signed on to serve as a sponsor for ''The Daily Share'', allowing on-set branding and sponsored segments during the program. In late-May 2015, ''The Daily Share'' was cut from five hours to two, with the remainder of its timeslot filled by CNN original series and specials, followed by next-day encores of ''Nancy Grace'' and ''Dr. Drew On Call''.


2016–2022: Change in strategy, integration of true crime programming

On November 24, 2015, CNN Worldwide president
Jeff Zucker Jeffrey Adam Zucker (born April 9, 1965) is an American former media executive. Between January 2013 and February 2022, Zucker was the president of CNN Worldwide. Zucker oversaw CNN, CNN International, HLN, and CNN Digital. He was previously C ...
announced, in a memo to network staff, that Hecht would depart HLN; Ken Jautz, who oversaw the network as its president prior to Hecht's appointment in 2013, would head the network in the interim. The memo outlined plans to restructure its daytime and overnight programming to more closely resemble CNN, including a focus on documentary films. In June 2016, HLN announced that
Erica Hill Erica Ruth Hill-Yount is an American journalist who works for CNN. She serves as a primary substitute anchor and a correspondent. She co-anchored ''Weekend Today'' from 2012 to 2016, following work at CBS since 2008. Personal life Hill was bo ...
would re-join the network to host a new, afternoon program from
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...
later in the year. Later that month, HLN also announced that Michaela Pereira, a former anchor of CNN's '' New Day'', would host a new morning show from CNN's Los Angeles bureau, known as ''MichaeLA'', beginning on July 11, 2016. The new program was positioned as a companion to HLN's main morning show ''Morning Express'', airing from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. ET; the network emphasized in promotion that ''MichaeLA'' would be the only nationally televised morning show to be broadcast live in the west coast (where it aired from 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. PT), contrasting other national morning shows that are tape-delayed from airings for the east coast. On June 30, 2016, Nancy Grace announced that she would end her show and leave HLN in October 2016, after nearly a decade with the network. It was replaced by a new program, ''Primetime Justice with Ashleigh Banfield''. Erica Hill's new program, ''On the Story'', premiered on October 10, 2016. In January 2017, HLN announced the January 27 premiere of ''How it Really Happened'', a new documentary series hosted by
Hill Harper Francis Eugene "Hill" Harper (born May 17, 1966) is an American actor and author. He is known for his roles on ''CSI: NY'', ''Limitless (TV series), Limitless'' and ''The Good Doctor (TV series), The Good Doctor''. Early life and education Harpe ...
reporting on the "most notorious crimes, mysteries, trials, and celebrity tragedies of our time". The series was the first production of CNN's Original Series Development staff that was developed specifically for HLN. On January 30, 2017, it was announced that CNN anchor Carol Costello would return to HLN to host a new program from Los Angeles. In March 2017, HLN announced that S.E. Cupp would host a new early-evening program on HLN, ''S. E. Cupp Unfiltered'', beginning in June 2017. On May 8, 2017, HLN underwent a rebranding, adopting a new logo and slogan, "News that hits home". The network began to position its news content towards regional headlines, crime, and entertainment stories — leaving CNN to focus upon "in-depth" political coverage and world affairs. In January 2018, HLN began to reintroduce the Headline News brand during its news programming (although HLN remains the network's primary name), and also introduced ''Headlines Now''—a recap of top stories airing every half-hour during its daytime lineup. In August 2018, ''S.E. Cupp Unfiltered'' was quietly moved to CNN as a weekly program on Saturday evenings. On October 16, 2018, HLN cancelled ''Across America with Carol Costello'', ''MichaeLA'', and ''Crime & Justice with Ashleigh Banfield''. With the cancellation of the three shows, ''Morning Express with Robin Meade'' brought back its original five-hour timeslot from 6:00 a.m. to noon, and ''On the Story'' was expanded to three hours and will air from noon until 3:00 p.m. By 2022, ''On the Story'' and other live programming such as ''True Crime Live'' had been cancelled, leaving only one news program each day – ''Morning Express'' on weekdays, and ''Weekend Express'' on Saturday and Sunday mornings – which were followed by true crime documentaries such as '' Forensic Files'' for the remainder of the broadcast day.


2022–present: End of original live programming

On December 1, 2022, as part of cost-cutting measures imposed by new owner Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD)—formed earlier that year with the merger of previous owner WarnerMedia with Discovery, Inc.—new CNN president
Chris Licht Christopher Andrew Licht (born October 22, 1971) is an American television newsman and producer. Since May 2022, he has been the chairman and CEO of CNN. He is best known as the showrunner and executive producer of ''The Late Show With Stephen Co ...
announced that HLN would no longer produce original live news programming effective December 6, and that HLN would merge its operations with sister channel Investigation Discovery under Warner Bros. Discovery U.S. Networks head Kathleen Finch. Licht stated that the company was aiming to direct its resources towards CNN's "core news programming and products" going forward. On December 6, the channel began simulcasting '' CNN This Morning'' daily during part of the previous ''Morning Express'' and ''Weekend Express'' timeslots; one observer has indicated that HLN is still required to carry some news programming in order to fulfill contracts with cable providers. True crime documentary programs—including original episodes of previously-commissioned series such as ''Real Life Nightmare—''air throughout the rest of the day. Some analysts have suggested that this may be just a transitional move towards WBD using the channel space for a different format entirely.


Distribution

Due to the channel's tradition of airing rolling news coverage, HLN had become popular with people who may not have time to watch lengthy news reports, and as a fast source of news for public locations like
airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surfa ...
s, bars, and many other places.
Supermarket A supermarket is a self-service Retail#Types of outlets, shop offering a wide variety of food, Drink, beverages and Household goods, household products, organized into sections. This kind of store is larger and has a wider selection than earli ...
s that carried the discontinued CNN Checkout Channel service were offered a feed of Headline News to broadcast on its televisions. Since its inception, many broadcast television stations in various markets carried Headline News programming during the overnight hours in lieu of signing off (particularly as stations began to adopt 24-hour-a-day program schedules during the late 1980s and 1990s), or scheduling movies,
infomercial An infomercial is a form of television commercial that resembles regular TV programming yet is intended to promote or sell a product, service or idea. It generally includes a toll-free telephone number or website. Most often used as a form of dire ...
s or other syndicated programming to fill overnight timeslots. Beginning in the early 1990s, as NBC, ABC and CBS launched their own overnight news programs (''
NBC Nightside ''NBC Nightside'' (also known as ''NBC News Nightside'') is an American overnight news broadcasting program on NBC, that aired from 1991 to 1998. The program was produced in three half-hour segments. It usually aired live seven nights a week, and ...
'', '' World News Now'' and '' Up to the Minute'', respectively), network-affiliated stations that carried the channel's programming – which typically aired in half-hour or hour-long blocks – continued to air Headline News broadcasts as a complement to these programs and also to provide news programming in weekend time periods when the networks did not provide Saturday and/or Sunday editions of their overnight newscasts. The channel's program audio was also simulcast on AM radio stations across the country via Westwood One, including a station in Atlanta which was not owned by Turner, WCNN (today a sports talk station with the same call letters), which broadcast from CNN Center with local contributions; all of CNN's U.S. radio operations (including the HLN simulcast) were discontinued on April 1, 2012, as part of Westwood One's dissolution into Dial Global. HLN's audio feed was carried on XM Satellite Radio channel 123 and Sirius Satellite Radio channel 116. Since the merger of both entities as
Sirius XM Sirius XM Holdings Inc. is an American broadcasting company headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City that provides satellite radio and online radio services operating in the United States. It was formed by the 2008 merger of Sirius Sat ...
, it is now carried on channel 117. As of February 2019, the audio simulcast is also distributed on Entercom's Radio.com (now Audacy) website and app. On July 18, 2011, HLN launched TV Everywhere streaming through the CNN mobile app for subscribers on participating television providers.


International

Until 1995, much of Headline News' programming was simulcast on sister channel CNN International; the channel's news ticker was not displayed on CNN International during its simulcasts of Headline News programming. London's Thames Television, as part of their '' Thames Into The Night'' overnight service, briefly aired a half-hour of Headline News at 5:30 AM in 1988, before ITN launched their own early morning bulletin later that year. Beginning in the mid-2000s, the channel has been available in certain countries outside the United States, particularly in
Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an ...
, Latin America, Middle East and North Africa. Although the international feed's programming lineup is identical to the U.S. feed, program teasers, stock market figures, and weather forecasts for Asian and Latin American, Middle East and North African cities are used as break fillers in lieu of US-oriented commercials. An hour of ''Morning Express'' airs on tape-delay during the overnight hours on the cable/satellite feed of CNN Philippines.


High definition

HLN broadcasts in
high definition High definition or HD may refer to: Visual technologies *HD DVD, discontinued optical disc format *HD Photo, former name for the JPEG XR image file format *HDV, format for recording high-definition video onto magnetic tape * HiDef, 24 frames-pe ...
1080i 1080i (also known as Full HD or BT.709) is a combination of frame Image resolution, resolution and scan type. 1080i is used in high-definition television (HDTV) and high-definition video. The number "1080" refers to the number of horizontal li ...
resolution format. It is available nationally on nearly all pay-TV providers within the United States, and in Canada on satellite provider Bell Satellite TV, which downconverts the HD feed's picture resolution to
720p 720p (1280×720 px; also called HD ready, standard HD or just HD) is a progressive HDTV signal format with 720 horizontal lines/1280 columns and an aspect ratio (AR) of 16:9, normally known as widescreen HDTV (1.78:1). All major HDTV broadcas ...
.


Programming

Prior to its reformulation as a true crime channel, HLN's weekday lineup consisted primarily of rolling news programming during the morning and early-afternoon hours. The final original news programs that aired under this format were '' Morning Express'', a morning news program hosted by Robin Meade with co-anchors Bob Van Dillen,
Jennifer Westhoven Jennifer Westhoven (born August 16, 1971) is an former American reporter, currently a correspondent for HLN. She covers the economy, business, personal finance and money topics. She has been with the CNN network since 2000, starting with CNNf ...
and Hines Ward, and Saturday and Sunday equivalent ''Weekend Express'', hosted by
Susan Hendricks Susan Hendricks (born August 29, 1973) is a former anchor for HLN and substitute anchor for CNN based in CNN's world headquarters in Atlanta. Hendricks also used to appear occasionally on CNN Pipeline, CNN.com's on-demand broadband news service. S ...
, both of which were canceled in December 2022. As of this time, the only remaining live news program on the channel is a simulcast of '' CNN This Morning'', intended primarily to satisfy carriage agreements requiring a quota of live news programming on the channel. HLN's remaining dayparts primarily feature a focus on true crime programming. The network has extensively aired reruns of the former
Court TV Court TV is an American digital broadcast network and former cable television channel. It was originally launched in 1991 with a focus on crime-themed programs such as true crime documentary series, legal analysis talk shows, and live news cove ...
series '' Forensic Files''; as of April 2016, the program took up about 58% of the channel's weekly schedule. In March 2017, HLN executive Ken Jautz stated that the network was making an effort to produce more original series; some of the new series that were slated to premiere in 2017, including ''Beyond Reasonable Doubt'', ''Something's Killing Me'', '' Inside with Chris Cuomo'' (which premiered October 20), and the second season of ''How it Really Happened'' (whose first season premiered January 27, 2017), were designed to complement the popularity of ''Forensic Files'' and other true crime programs, as well as HLN's renewed focus on crime coverage as part of its news programming. After airing new episodes in simulcast with CNN in 2016, '' The Hunt with John Walsh'' moved to HLN for its fourth season. In February 2020, HLN premiered a revival of ''Forensic Files'' under the title '' Forensic Files II''. HLN has occasionally experimented with entertainment programming carrying news and political themes; on February 12, 2015, HLN aired the film '' Glory'' under the banner ''News and a Movie''—airings of feature films accompanied by panel discussions on their cultural relevance in the present day. Alongside TruTV, HLN also aired encores of special episodes of TBS's
late night talk show A late-night talk show is a genre of talk show popular in the United States, where the format originated. It is generally structured around humorous monologues about the day's news, guest interviews, comedy sketches and music performances. It ...
'' Conan'' set in
Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...
and
Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ...
. In November 2022, HLN aired a marathon of the first four seasons of '' The West Wing'' over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, marking the first time HLN had aired a scripted television series. HLN will once again air the mega marathon of ''The West Wing'' from the day after
Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year ...
through
New Year's Day New Year's Day is a festival observed in most of the world on 1 January, the first day of the year in the modern Gregorian calendar. 1 January is also New Year's Day on the Julian calendar, but this is not the same day as the Gregorian one. Wh ...
, with the exception of most mornings where ''CNN This Morning'' airs from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. (Eastern). The network has also, in recent years, served as an additional outlet for Turner Sports broadcasts, including joining its sister channels in simulcasting Turner's golf event franchise '' The Match'', and serving as an overflow channel in the event of conflicts with TBS, TNT, and TruTV. At 4:00 a.m. ET on weekdays, HLN used to broadcast ''CNN Student News'' (formerly known as ''CNN Newsroom'' from its 1989 debut, not to be confused with the current CNN program of the same name), a 10-minute news program designed for broadcast in schools that is produced as part of the Cable in the Classroom initiative; the program is anchored by Carl Azuz, with reports on the day's news presented in a simplified format (and with stories featuring graphic imagery or adult themes usually left out from the program). It no longer airs on HLN as of 2014, but is still available as a free podcast on CNN's website and
iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...
. On December 16, 2016, the program was renamed to '' CNN 10''.


Notable on-air staff


Anchors and reporters

*
Jean Casarez Jean Ann LeGrand-Casarez ( LeGrand; born April 20, 1960) is an American lawyer and news correspondent for CNN and its sister network HLN. She formerly worked for ''TruTV'' until that network eliminated daytime trial coverage. As a correspondent ...
(HLN & CNN) * Allison Chinchar (HLN & CNN) * Mike Galanos (HLN) *
Susan Hendricks Susan Hendricks (born August 29, 1973) is a former anchor for HLN and substitute anchor for CNN based in CNN's world headquarters in Atlanta. Hendricks also used to appear occasionally on CNN Pipeline, CNN.com's on-demand broadband news service. S ...
(HLN) * Melissa Knowles (HLN) * Natisha Lance (HLN) * Shyann Malone (HLN) * Robin Meade (HLN) * Chloe Melas (HLN & CNN) * Elizabeth Prann (HLN) * Andy Scholes (HLN & CNN) * Bob Van Dillen (HLN) *
Jennifer Westhoven Jennifer Westhoven (born August 16, 1971) is an former American reporter, currently a correspondent for HLN. She covers the economy, business, personal finance and money topics. She has been with the CNN network since 2000, starting with CNNf ...
(HLN) * Coy Wire (HLN & CNN) ;Notes # (HLN) – ''Indicates anchor/reporter who appears exclusively on HLN'' # (HLN & CNN) – ''Indicates anchor/reporter who appears on both HLN and CNN''


Former anchors and reporters

* Jane Akre * Rudi Bakhtiar (now director of communications for the International Campaign for Human Rights in
Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkm ...
; serves as senior advisor at Voice of America) * Brooke Baldwin * Ashleigh Banfield (now with
NewsNation NewsNation is an American subscription television network owned by the Nexstar Media Group, and is the company's only wholly-owned, national cable-originated television channel. The channel runs a mixture of entertainment programming (consistin ...
) * Bobbie Battista (deceased) *
Michelle Bonner Michelle Bonner is an American journalist and businesswoman. Career A native of Marblehead, Massachusetts, Bonner graduated from Northeastern University with a bachelor's degree in English in 1994. She began her broadcasting career at WCHS- ...
* Mike Brooks * Richard Brown * Richelle Carey (now at
Al Jazeera English Al Jazeera English (AJE; ar, الجزيرة‎, translit=al-jazīrah, , literally "The Peninsula", referring to the Qatar Peninsula) is an international 24-hour English-language News broadcasting, news channel owned by the Al Jazeera Media Ne ...
) *
Helen Casey Helen Casey (born 6 February 1974 in Stockport) is a British rower. She rowed in the Women's Lightweight Double Sculls at the 2004 and 2008 Summer Olympics and studied at Worcester College, Oxford Worcester College is one of the con ...
*
Virginia Cha Virginia Cha is a Korean American news anchor for KGTV-TV, San Diego. She was formerly employed at HLN based in Atlanta, and as an NBC News correspondent based in New York. Cha graduated from Princeton University and is a Fulbright Scholar. P ...
(now at
KGTV KGTV (channel 10) is a television station in San Diego, California, United States, affiliated with ABC and owned by the E. W. Scripps Company. The station's studios are located on Air Way in the Riverview-Webster section of San Diego, and its ...
) * Roby Chavez * Jill Chernekoff * Sophia Choi (now at WSB-TV) * Brian Christie * Leesa Clark (retired) *
Adrianna Costa Adrianna Costa (born Adrianna Heber; June 26, 1981) is an American television personality best known as an entertainment reporter and a reality show host. Biography Heber, whose mother's name is Anita Garza,(Dec._22,_2005):_"Agoura_High_Alumna_Get ...
* Carol Costello *
Natasha Curry Natasha Curry is the former anchor for HLN (TV channel), HLN's ''Weekend Express with Natasha Curry''. She also served as a replacement on the same network, when necessary, for Robin Meade on ''Morning Express with Robin Meade''. She joined the n ...
* Christine Davidson *
Denise Dillon Denise Dillon (born September 22, 1973) is the head women's basketball coach at Villanova Wildcats women's basketball, Villanova, returning to her alma mater from Drexel Dragons women's basketball, Drexel, where she was the program's most successf ...
(now at WAGA-TV) *
Bud Elliott Harold Edward "Bud" Elliott (December 24, 1931 – November 1, 2005) was an American football coach. He served as the head coach at Southwestern College in Winfield, Kansas (1964–1968), Washburn University (1969–1970), Kansas State Teache ...
(now at
KJWL KJWL is a commercial radio station located in Fresno, California, broadcasting on 99.3 FM. The station airs a classic hits format and is branded as "K-Jewel 99.3 FM". Its studios are located on the Fulton Mall strip in downtown Fresno, while its ...
) * Marc Fein * Holly Firfer * Sasha Foo (now at KUSI) * Peter Ford (retired) * Judy Fortin (now at NewsCertified Exchange) * Courtney George * Lori Geary (now at WSB-TV) * David Goodnow (retired) * Gordon Graham (now at Florida's News Channel) * Dan Hackel * Don Harrison (deceased) * Pat Harvey (now at
KCBS-TV KCBS-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship of the CBS network. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside independent outl ...
) *
Kara Henderson Kara Henderson (born June 27, 1973) is an American sports media personality, most recently for the NFL Network. At NFLN, Henderson provided in-depth interviews, pregame and postgame reports and sideline reports for a variety of shows across the net ...
(now at NFL Network) *
Erica Hill Erica Ruth Hill-Yount is an American journalist who works for CNN. She serves as a primary substitute anchor and a correspondent. She co-anchored ''Weekend Today'' from 2012 to 2016, following work at CBS since 2008. Personal life Hill was bo ...
(returned to CNN as a fill-in anchor and national correspondent) * Micah Johnson *
Sachi Koto Sachi Koto born in Atlanta, Georgia, is a third-generation Japanese American. She was a news anchor on '' CNN News'' for 16 years, until leaving In 2005, to run her own communications company, Sachi Koto Communications, LLC. Koto worked at variou ...
(now on the board of directors at The Japan-America Society of Georgia) * Nicole Lapin (now on The CW) *
Bob Losure Robert C. "Bob" Losure (May 4, 1947 – July 19, 2019) was a weekend anchor on ''CNN Headline News'' from 1986 to 1997. Earlier in his career he worked as co-anchor of the evening news at KOTV, the CBS affiliate in his hometown of Tulsa, Oklahoma ...
(deceased) * Richard Lui (now at MSNBC) *
Miguel Marquez Miguel Marquez (born 1967) is a national correspondent for CNN, currently based in CNN's New York offices. His earlier journalistic positions have included stints with WNBC-TV in New York City (1998–1999) and KSAZ-TV in Phoenix, Arizona (1999� ...
(now at CNN) * Cami McCormick (now at
CBS News CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio service CBS. CBS News television programs include the '' CBS Evening News'', '' CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs ''CBS News Sunday Morning'', ''60 Minutes'', and '' 48 ...
) * Janice McDonald * Dave Michaels *
Kris Osborn Kris Osborn (born May 16, 1969) is a journalist, military expert, and former news anchor. He worked at CNN Headline News from 2001 to 2004 as an anchor, and specialized in military issues. He has worked as a reporter for KSTP-TV in Minneapolis and ...
*
Christina Park Christina Park is an American television news anchor. She previously anchored the news at 6 and 10 p.m. on the weekends on Fox 5 New York WNYW in New York City, as well as filling in during the weekly newscasts. Her former co-anchor alongside he ...
* Christi Paul * Michaela Pereira (now at KTTV) * Jacque Reid * Marilyn Ringo * Chuck Roberts (retired) * Thomas Roberts * Lynne Russell * Lynn Smith * Kate Snow (now at NBC News) * Linda Stouffer (now at WSB-TV) * Andrea Thompson * Nischelle Turner (now at
Entertainment Tonight ''Entertainment Tonight'' (or simply ''ET'') is an American Broadcast syndication, first-run syndicated news broadcasting news magazine, newsmagazine program that is distributed by CBS Media Ventures throughout the United States and owned by Para ...
in Los Angeles, California) *
Lyn Vaughn Lyndell Elois Vaughn is an American broadcast journalist most notable for her stint as a news anchor and reporter at CNN Headline News in Atlanta from December 1984 to June 1998. Her unflappable composure and distinct delivery led to mentions in ...
(now at
Troy University Troy University is a public university in Troy, Alabama. It was founded in 1887 as Troy State Normal School within the Alabama State University System, and is now the flagship university of the Troy University System. Troy University is accredi ...
) * Jim Wilkerson * Glenda Webb *
Rafer Weigel Rafer Weigel (born May 5, 1969) is an American broadcast journalist who most recently was an early morning weekday news anchor and general assignment reporter at WFLD-Channel 32 in Chicago. Formerly, he was the weekend sports anchor and report ...
(now at
ESPN Radio ESPN Radio, which is alternately platform-agnostically branded as ESPN Audio, is an American sports radio network and extension of the ESPN television network. It was launched on January 1, 1992, under the original banner of "SportsRadio ESPN". ...
) *
Van Earl Wright Van Earl Wright (born January 27, 1962) is an American television sportscaster, news anchor and journalist with over 30 years of national and local experience. A graduate of the University of South Carolina, Wright is known for a homespun del ...
(now owner/president at Wright Stuff Productions) * Jay Young (deceased) *
Charles Zewe Charles Fredrick Zewe II is a former anchor for CNN Headline News in the 1990s, and also a correspondent for the CNN Southwest Bureau in Dallas. Biography Zewe received his bachelor's degree from Louisiana State University, his master's degree from ...
(now at Louisiana State University)


Former talk show hosts

*
Brooke Anderson Brooke Victoria Anderson (born May 13, 1978) is a former co-host of '' The Insider'', and is now a correspondent for '' Entertainment Tonight''. Previously, she was a culture and entertainment anchor and producer for CNN and served as co-host ...
(now at ''
Entertainment Tonight ''Entertainment Tonight'' (or simply ''ET'') is an American Broadcast syndication, first-run syndicated news broadcasting news magazine, newsmagazine program that is distributed by CBS Media Ventures throughout the United States and owned by Para ...
'') *
Glenn Beck Glenn Lee Beck (born February 10, 1964) is an American conservative political commentator, radio host, entrepreneur, and television producer. He is the CEO, founder, and owner of Mercury Radio Arts, the parent company of his television and rad ...
(now at
TheBlaze TV Blaze Media is an American conservative media company. It was founded in 2018 as a result of a merger between TheBlaze and CRTV LLC. The company's leadership consists of CEO Tyler Cardon and president Gaston Mooney. It is based in Irving, Texa ...
) *
Joy Behar Josephine Victoria "Joy" Behar (; née Occhiuto) is an American comedian, television host, actress, and writer. She co-hosts the ABC daytime talk show '' The View'', where she is the only original panelist still regularly appearing. She hosted ...
(returned to '' The View'') * S.E. Cupp (still with CNN) * Nancy Grace (now with Fox Nation) * A. J. Hammer * Clark Howard (now retired from long-form radio and television) * Drew Pinsky * Jane Velez-Mitchell


References


External links

* {{Sirius XM Channels 1982 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state) Television channels and stations established in 1982 24-hour television news channels in the United States English-language television stations in the United States XM Satellite Radio channels Sirius Satellite Radio channels Warner Bros. Discovery networks Sirius XM Radio channels CNN