Now you can be a cord-cutter and a TV news junkie too.
That’s because consumers who are giving up pay TV are finding a growing array of options outside the cable bundle providing national and local news.
Look up at the screen at the local nail salon or bagel shop, and where you once might have seen CNN, Fox News or CNBC might be a free channel serving up headlines.
For purveyors of TV news, the streaming channels have become a bigger part of their future as the habit of traditional viewing fades and a new generation relies on information from TikTok, Instagram and other social media platforms.
More consumers are discovering national and local news content on what the media industry calls free ad-supported streaming television — or FAST — channels. Internet-connected television sets with free streaming TV platforms such as Tubi, Pluto TV, Roku and Samsung TV Plus built into them are making the offerings easier to find.
Ethan Cramer-Flood, a principal forecast writer for the media research firm Emarketer, tracks the growth of FAST channels. But it wasn’t until he recently cut the cord himself that he realized he could get his local news from New York stations such as WABC-TV anytime he wanted streamed through his Roku device.
“After cutting the cord, one of the things I had been missing was news,” Cramer-Flood said. “The channels are all right there. They are showing their news segments and newscasts all day long. You can just go on it and catch a half-hour.”
The news-viewing habit is growing as FAST channel usage steadily increases. Emarketer data put the number of U.S. consumers watching FAST at 116.8 million, and the figure is projected to reach 130 million by the end of the decade.
Cramer-Flood said that internet-connected TV sets are making FAST channels as convenient to watch as cable channels.
“The barrier to entry is zero,” Cramer-Flood said. “They don’t even make you sign up. It doesn’t cost anything. In one click you’re in the same exact experience as cable.”
Broadcast networks including ABC, CBS and NBC and TV station ownership groups such as Fox, Nexstar and Scripps have had streaming news channels for years, enabling them to reach younger viewers who have turned away from traditional television. They carry repeats of TV newscasts, morning shows and newsmagazines, but over time have added original streaming programs as well, where emerging on-air talent can get experience at the anchor desk.
“NBC Nightly News” anchor Tom Llamas put in four years at streaming channel NBC News Now before taking over for Lester Holt in June. But he has remained with his nightly streaming newscast, “Top Story,” to maintain a presence with an audience that is about 20 years younger than the one watching traditional TV.
ABC News chose Linsey Davis, the anchor of its signature streaming news program on ABC News Live, to be co-moderator of its 2024 presidential debate alongside David Muir of “World News Tonight.”
As the audience migration to streaming continues, outlets such as CNN and BBC News are joining the FAST channel fray even though they are still dependent on pay TV revenue.
CNN recently launched CNN Headlines, a free streaming channel that provides fast-paced delivery of national and international stories culled from the network’s reporting. There are no live guests, panel discussions or debates that are a trademark of the flagship cable channel. The channel’s lead anchor, Brad Smith, is often seen in a leather jacket rather than a suit and tie, a nod to the notion that the conventions of traditional TV news are less important to younger viewers.
“It’s more informal than it is on cable,” Eric Sherling, executive vice president, U.S. programming for CNN.
The arrival of CNN Headlines comes ahead of the network’s plans to offer a subscription-based direct-to-consumer product that will give consumers the chance to get CNN’s cable feed without a pay TV subscription for the first time.
Sherling said the two services will appeal to different audiences, with CNN Headline viewers looking for brevity while paying customers get the breadth and depth they expect from the cable channel.
CNN Headlines replaced a previous FAST channel that played segments that aired on cable. It was barely curated, but “a ton of people watched it,” Sherling said.
Early response to CNN Headlines has been strong, the network said, reaching 30 million users a month and more than 2 million daily.
Viewers have also quickly discovered a streaming version of BBC News, which is distributed on cable in the U.S. by AMC Networks. The service hit a high of 258.5 million streamed minutes in June, up 153% from the same month in 2024, according to AMC’s data.
AMC Networks has been aggressive in putting its programming on FAST channels, as cord-cutting puts the squeeze on its cable outlets. The company has 20 FAST channels in all, with BBC News being the latest entry.
The stream is identical to the BBC News feed offered to pay TV subscribers. But Amy Leasca, executive vice president of partner management for AMC Networks, said the company hasn’t seen any cannibalization of the cable audience.
BBC News presenters Caitríona Perry, left, and Sumi Somaskanda in Washington, D.C.
(AMC Networks)
Data indicate streaming viewers are showing up for specific scheduled programs on BBC News, mirroring the habits of traditional TV users, Leasca said.
Fox Television Stations takes a different approach with LiveNOW, a channel that delivers raw footage of breaking news coverage, with on-air journalists who are there to guide viewers from one event to the next. The video journalists deliver straightforward introductions of live video without commentary.
President Trump addressing Congress on March 4, 2025.
(Fox Television Stations)
“There are no prompters or scripts,” said Emily Stone, vice president of digital content and LiveNOW at Fox Television Stations.
Most companies release sparse internal data on exactly how many viewers are watching their FAST news channels. But LiveNOW puts its viewing numbers right on the screen in real time. Jeff Zellmer, executive vice president of digital operations for Fox Television, said the figures help the service determine what to cover.
On Friday, LiveNOW showed an empty lectern ahead of the press conference announcing the arrest of the alleged shooter of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk. The screen showed more than 345,000 were watching, and it surged to 400,000 when law enforcement officials took the microphone.
LiveNOW’s reached its largest audience in February when its coverage of President Trump’s address to Congress in hit 1.95 million viewers
LiveNOW started as an experiment in 2014 when Fox Television Stations President Jack Abernethy challenged his outlets to come up with a low-cost streaming service using their existing resources.
“The Phoenix station decided they were going to start a YouTube channel and put a person in front of a switcher with a bunch of live feeds and see what happens,” Stone said.
The stream showed live coverage of local events and picked up an occasional car chase from California.
But when the COVID-19 pandemic and protests over the police killing of George Floyd hit in 2020, the public was desperate for up-to-date information from officials. LiveNOW gained a following.
“There was a press conference every second from every city,” Zellner said.
LiveNOW’s video journalists are not the high-paid anchors that have long been the staple of network news. The 10 staffers who run the operation toil on minimalist sets in Phoenix and Tampa, Fla., which helps keep the service profitable.
Kate O’Brian, who oversaw Scripps’ streaming news operation until late last year, said the less formal approach of streaming news channels is likely to be the norm going forward.
“I think there’s something viewers appreciate about the unvarnished part of it,” O’Brian said. “It doesn’t look pretty sometimes. But I think post-pandemic — when every reporter was sitting in their basement or their garage — the audience’s patience and adaptability completely changed.”