NBC to Launch Streaming News Service in Early May

NBC News plans to launch a streaming service called NBC News Now in early May.

Speaking at the South by Southwest conference in Austin Sunday, NBC News president Noah Oppenheim said the free, ad supported streaming service will launch with eight hours of programming, including live updates at the top of every hours.

CBS News and ABC News have also launched live news streaming services, Those news operations do not have a 24-hour cable news network like NBCU’s MSNBC.

News tends to skew older by streaming news has proved attractive to some younger viewers, although Oppenheim said NBC News Now would not be limited to appealing to young people.

“We will be doing original work that will be specific for the streaming service, we will be drawing from the reporting that takes place across all the other NBC News properties,” he said. “We will actually be reaching into other corners of NBCUniversal, E! News, sports, you name it, for some of that content."

”When breaking news mandates, we’ll go up live as well,” Oppenheim said. “So for folks who don’t have a traditional cable subscription it will be great way to access the reporting of NBC News.”

NBC News’ parent company recently acquired Sky, which has a big news operation oversees that the streaming service will be able to draw from, he added.

The service will be available via the NBC News app, where there will be a link to NBC News Now.

Jon Lafayette

Jon has been business editor of Broadcasting+Cable since 2010. He focuses on revenue-generating activities, including advertising and distribution, as well as executive intrigue and merger and acquisition activity. Just about any story is fair game, if a dollar sign can make its way into the article. Before B+C, Jon covered the industry for TVWeek, Cable World, Electronic Media, Advertising Age and The New York Post. A native New Yorker, Jon is hiding in plain sight in the suburbs of Chicago.