Cable News Network (CNN) is an American news-based pay television channel owned by CNN Worldwide, a unit of the WarnerMedia News & Sports division of AT&T's WarnerMedia.It was founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel. Upon its launch in 1980, CNN was the first television channel to provide 24-hour news coverage, and was the first all-news television channel in the United States.