The News
NBCUniversal News Group Chairman Cesar Conde said the network is planning to launch a premium subscription service for news as soon as late 2025.
At Semafor’s Innovating to Restore Trust in News Summit on Thursday, Conde said the new service would be “laser-focused” on premium video, “in all shapes and forms, short-form, long-form.”
Conde maintained that some news content will remain free and ad-supported. He pointed, though, to the success of the network’s free streaming news channel, NBC News Now, as evidence of consumer demand for high-quality video.
NBC’s roots, Conde said, are in “free journalism for mass audiences – that’s not going to change.” And he stressed that the “best journalism” will remain free.
“But in addition to that, we think there’s an opportunity to provide a premium experience for subscriptions here,” Conde added.
Know More
Conde oversees the NBC network at its most unstable point in years. NBCUniversal is in the midst of a yearlong spinoff of its cable and broadcast assets, a task that reduces NBC’s reach in television, but allows parent company Comcast to keep itself from being dragged down by the rapidly declining cable TV business.
And while NBC has attempted to improve its image among right-leaning viewers — it lobbied hard to host a Republican primary television debate — its programming decisions, such as the hiring and subsequent firing of former Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel, alienated some conservatives and Democrats.
In a social media post earlier this month, US President Donald Trump went after Comcast chief Brian Roberts, calling him a “lowlife,” and vaguely suggested that he should be punished for the content on the broadcast networks.