HLN (TV network)

HLN
CountryUnited States
Broadcast area
  • United States
  • Canada
  • Latin America
  • The Caribbean
  • Asia
  • MENA
  • Australia (some hotels only)
Headquarters
Programming
Language(s)English
Picture format1080i HDTV
(downscaled to letterboxed 480i for the SDTV feed)
Ownership
OwnerWarner Bros. Discovery
ParentCNN Worldwide
Sister channels
History
LaunchedJanuary 1, 1982 (1982-01-01) (as CNN2)
August 9, 1982 (1982-08-09) (as Headline News)
December 15, 2008 (2008-12-15) (as HLN)
Former names
  • CNN2
  • (1982)
  • Headline News
  • (1982–1997)
  • CNN Headline News
  • (1997–2007)
  • HLN: Headline News
  • (2007–2008)
Links
Websitewww.cnn.com/specials/videos/hln
Availability
Terrestrial
Audio available via some radio stationsFrequencies vary
Streaming media
go.cnn.comLive simulcast (Pay-TV subscribers only)
YouTube TV, Hulu with Live TV, Sling TV, DirecTV Stream

HLN is an American basic cable network. Owned by CNN Worldwide, the network primarily carries true-crime programming, as well as limited live news 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 block featuring pundits such as Glenn Beck 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, 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 true crime programs.

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 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. The network's schedule outside of that has primarily featured true crime programs as before, in addition to reruns of crime and legal dramas from the Warner Bros. Television library.

As of September 2018, HLN was available to approximately 88.7 million households (92.5 percent of pay television subscribers) in the United States.[1] 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.

  1. ^ Bucholtz, Andrew (September 10, 2018). "Nielsen coverage estimates for September see gains at ESPN networks, NBCSN, and NBA TV, drops at MLBN and NFLN". Awful Announcing. Retrieved January 17, 2020.