CNN staple Wolf Blitzer is set to host a new nightly show for WarnerMedia’s upcoming subscription streaming service CNN Plus.
Blitzer, who will remain in his post as the anchor of “The Situation Room,” which airs at 6 p.m. ET on CNN every weekday, will lead “The Newscast with Wolf Blitzer” on CNN Plus when the platform launches this spring.
Per CNN Plus, “On ‘The Newscast,’ Blitzer will give it to you straight, hitting the headlines you need to know on this traditional evening news show with a sleek, modern twist. The old-school nostalgic approach featuring original reporting from around the world, investigations, and consumer focused stories that matter help put the latest headlines in perspective.”
The addition of Blitzer’s show to the lineup of CNN Plus content is certainly a draw for viewers, but also comes at a time when CNN is under pressure not to put the exact same programming on the forthcoming CNN Plus as it airs on the cable news channel, as the repetition would anger cable distributors who pay a massive amount of money in subscription fees.
During the 2020 election cycle, Blitzer moderated several Democratic presidential town halls, as well as CNN’s January debate in Iowa. He also anchored special coverage of “Election Night in America” surrounding the 2020 election, which lasted several days until CNN was the first to project Joe Biden as the winner and Blitzer was the one to announce the projection. He has also played a critical role in the network’s expanded coverage of the coronavirus pandemic, often anchoring seven days a week during the peak of the pandemic in 2020.
Blitzer joined CNN in 1990 as the network’s military-affairs correspondent at the Pentagon. He then served as CNN’s senior White House correspondent, covering President Bill Clinton from the November 1992 election until 1999, when he became the anchor of CNN’s Sunday public affairs program “Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer” and remained ther for more than a decade.