CNN

Cable News Network (CNN) is the first 24-hour all-news channel on television.

On July 13, 1948, United Press agreed with Fox's Movietone News service to shoot news film for local television stations across the United States.

United Press Movietone (UPMT) had innovations in the news-gathering business for television.

With the BBC as its first European client, United Press Movietone became the first agency in television news to operate on a truly international level.

In the mid-1960's, UPI ended its partnership with Fox-Movietone, the latter remaining in the newsreel business, which, in turn, resulted in the loss of its contract with the BBC.

Meanwhile, UPI set up a new entity of its own called United Press International News Film (UPIN).

The BBC's main domestic rival ITN joined forces with United Press International to form United Press International Television News (UPITN) in the late-1960's era.

Reese Schonfeld was one of the noted personnel in the United Press Movietone/UPITN group.

UPI suffered financial difficulties, and in the early-1980's, sold its stake in UPITN, which was renamed Worldwide Television News (WTN) in 1985.

Stakes in WTN, which ITN partly owned, were by ABC (America) and the Nine Network (Australia).

With the other broadcasters from the British Commonwealth and the Rank Organization, the BBC also formed Visnews, with Reuters joining in 1960.

From 1957 to 1993, Visnews, based in London, served as the primary non-American competitor of the US-involved UPITN/WTN agency, which formerly had the BBC as its first European client.

Changes in Visnews came in the late-1960's period, when Rank left Visnews and Reuters took a bigger interest.

NBC, which, since 1962, had a long-term partnership with Visnews, acquired a minority interest in the London-based television news agency, effective January 1, 1989.

Television News Inc. (TVN) is a short-lived syndicated news service, offering daily news film feeds to independent television stations in the United States and Canada from 1973 to 1975.

Joseph Coors, a Colorado businessman with conservative views, owned a majority stake in Television News Inc., a conservative alternative to the Big Three networks, whose news output was liberal.

Robert Pauley, a former ABC Radio executive, was the chief executive for Television News Inc.

Visnews, a UPITN rival formed by the BBC and other Commonweath broadcasters, had owned a small stake in Television News Inc.

TVN (partly-held by Visnews, which the BBC and Reuters held) took the US business of its competitor UPITN (partly-held by ITN, which was the BBC's main domestic rival) in 1974.

In January 1975, TVN disclosed plans to change newsfeed distribution from a long-distance phone line method to a satellite delivery one, using Westar 1, which could send HBO to a national level.

Like HBO's own innovative satellite distribution proposal, TVN's plan was equally-innovative in that it marked the first full use of an American domestic satellite for television program distribution.

Having suffered financial difficulties and having not executed a proposed satellite distribution plan that would have made it a pioneer, TVN closed in 1975 after Coors withdrew its financial support.

Upon its part-owner Visnews' 1974 purchase of the American business of its competitor UPITN, Reese Schonfeld became TVN's Vice President of Operations.

After TVN closed its doors in 1975, Reese Schonfeld founded his own newsfeed distributor named the Independent Television News Association (ITNA).

For ITNA, it was a non-profit independent alternative to the Big Three networks.

Not related to the British television news provider ITN, which partly owned UPITN, for whom Reese Schonfeld worked, ITNA was based at WPIX in the Daily News Building in New York.

John Corporon, the news director for WPIX from 1972 to 1996, was also ITNA's first president.

Using Westar 1, which also carried HBO for its national launch, ITNA had provided both pooled news coverage and newsfeed to independent stations in the United States.

Before ITNA, indie stations relied on film or videotape via air freight for news syndication.

However, ITNA was the first company to provide a daily satellite-delivered news service to America's independent television stations.

ITNA marked the end of the traditional film via air era for indies.

With ITNA's successful satellite plan, Reese Schonfeld joined Ted Turner to launch CNN.

Countering the humorous tone of the 17 Update program on WTCG, CNN used a serious, dramatic and hard-hitting tone.

Satcom 1, which already carried other pioneering cable networks like HBO and TBS, also carried CNN upon its 1980 debut, after its intended satellite Satcom 3 failed to reach orbit and was lost.

Juxtaposing Ted Turner's national satellite-fed basic cable television expertise with Reese Schonfeld's television news background, CNN is television's first 24-hour all-news service.