CNN International has ceased broadcasting on Freeview, describing its 22-month tenure on the DTT platform as a trial period.
The news network had occupied capacity in the ITV-owned SDN mutiplex. Its four-hour nightly window came about after the earlier closure of the Nuts TV venture.
“With this trial period coming to a natural end on November 13th at midnight, we’ll be looking anew at the distribution opportunities across all platforms, for CNN content in the UK, as part of our overall international distribution strategy. We’ll now assess how Freeview might fit into our plans going forward as an international multiplatform brand in the future,” said a CNN spokesperson.
Other news broadcasters BBC News, Sky News and Russia Today remain on the platform.
It is assumed that the departure of CNN has in part enabled the launch of ITV1 +1, already testing on Freeview, and expected to make its debut in the next few weeks.