Cable News Network (CNN) is owned by WarnerMedia. It was founded in 1980 by U.S. media mogul Ted Turner as a 24-hour cable news channel and was the first TV station to provide 24-hour news coverage. CNN is currently in over 90 million U.S. homes.

Meanwhile, if you go to about 60 major airports in the U.S., chances are good that CNN will be playing on the TV in the gate and boarding areas.

So, what's up with that?

Welp, it turns out that CNN Airport is a spin-off of CNN and is only shown in (wait for it...) airports ;-). After a test launch at DFW, ATL and ORD in mid-1991, it debuted in early 1992.

Headquartered in Atlanta, CNN Airport Network pays to be broadcast in nearly 60 airports in North America. It's shown at 2,400+ gates and reaches roughly 323 million travelers per year. CNN Airport alternates between live CNN and HLN news programming and it also airs additional topics. Its content mix is:

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  • 48% Lifestyle & Entertainment
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  • 16% Live CNN
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  • 17% Business Headlines
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  • 19% Sports
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  • 10% local inserts from airports, as needed
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  • Emergency messaging is also available as needed

CNN Airport broadcasts 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with around-the-clock technical and editorial staffing. Because it broadcasts in public waiting areas, CNN Airport is more family-friendly than regular CNN. For example, CNN Airport screens out material that's sexually explicit or portrays graphic violence. For security and safety reasons, the channel also won't report on airline crashes or other similar commercial aviation incidents.

Here's the schedule (most recent available is 2019, current as of this writing):

Click here for a PDF of the schedule.

Because CNN the cable TV station tends to be more left-wing when it comes to political stories, those who prefer more right-wing politics have often expressed a wish to get other TV channels to be played at airports. There are other startup TV stations grabbing some of this niche market, including ReachTV (previously known as ReachMeTV), but so far, to date, CNN is still the most popular and well-known.

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