CNN is creating a news aggregator that will collect content from a variety of sources, with some portion of the service requiring a subscription. If this sounds familiar, it’s because that’s exactly what Apple News is.
There’s no coincidence — CNN thinks Apple and other big tech companies have too much control over the news.
Andrew Morse, the head of CNN Digital Worldwide, told The Information that his company can do a better job reporting current events than companies like Facebook and Snapchat. “Those organizations do a lot of different things. And, I don’t think their primary focus is on delivering the best news experience to their customers,” said Morse. “That’s not to say that we want to replicate what they are doing — but it does beg the question: Can we create something better?”
About a dozen people are currently working on the project, which is known internally at CNN as NewsCo. But they are staffing up to develop a platform for their news aggregator.
One of the goals of the project is to bring outside companies more revenue than rival service do. Apple News+ reportedly isn’t making its content providers much money, for example.
As it’s still still in the planning phase, it’s much too soon to say what CNN’s news aggregator will cost. When it will debut is equally amorphous.
