CBS News (TV channel; PatrZDZ's vision)

**All News Channel** (also known as **ANC**) is an American news channel operated by CONUS Communications, a joint venture between Paramount Global and Hubbard Broadcasting. All News Channel's programming is also syndicated to television stations across the United States. The channel is headquartered in St. Paul, Minnesota, out of the facility of Hubbard's flagship station KSTP-TV (channel 5), the ABC affiliate for the Minneapolis–St. Paul market.

## History

All News Channel was launched on January 1, 1989, through a partnership formed between Viacom and Hubbard called CONUS Communications (CONUS being an acronym for Continental U.S.), which included a news video-sharing service for local television stations nationwide, particularly those affiliated with a major broadcast network. Nearly all of ANC's video came from these stations, who in turn utilized satellite news-gathering trucks that had been invented, built and sold by Hubbard beginning in 1984. CONUS also maintained a small news bureau in Washington, D.C. It was the second nationwide challenger to established cable news channel CNN after the Satellite News Channel (SNC), as well as the first since SNC folded in 1983.

All-News Channel also produces news content for third parties. From shortly after its inception until the early 1990s, All News Channel produced daily news updates that aired on Showtime (at the time, owned by ANC co-parent Viacom) during the premium channel's promo breaks. The channel also produces similar updates for USA Network since 1993; the news briefs were originally produced at KYW-TV in Philadelphia (which had been producing other news services for parent Group W), but management and newscast changes at that station caused the network to move production. From 1991 to 1994, VH1 (also owned by Viacom) carried All News Channel-produced interstitials during the morning block Hits, News & Weather. ANC also produces the syndicated morning business news program First Business.

All News Channel was never profitable in the first decade of broadcasting and could not withstand the challenges of MSNBC and Fox News Channel (ironically, Rupert Murdoch made an offer to buy ANC from the Hubbards to serve as the cornerstone for what would become FNC; the Hubbards refused to sell), which pushed ANC to fifth place in the ratings among all cable news channels (behind Headline News). It benefits in part by being the only news channel on the Digisat satellite service.

## Programming

ANC airs up to five live half-hour newscasts each day (airing at 4:00 a.m., 8:00 a.m., 12:00 p.m., 4:00 p.m., and 10:00 p.m. Central Time, with an occasional sixth at 4:30 a.m.), with each edition being repeated until the next live newscast aired; however, exceptions to this set scheduling are made for major breaking news stories.

If mistakes are made during the live broadcasts, a corrected segment is produced (sometimes live) for the repeat broadcasts. ANC operates on a fixed schedule, where each news block runs the same length every day, and commercials (which consists mainly of direct response advertisements, and promos for Digisat's slate of general entertainment and premium channels; the latter type of ads is also seen on some stations that carry the channel's programming at times) air at the same time every day. The on-air talent is mostly exclusive to All News Channel, though some anchors from KSTP also serve as ANC anchors; KSTP producers also record weather segments for All News Channel.

Broadcast television stations in many markets carry All News Channel programming during the overnight hours in lieu of signing off, or scheduling movies, infomercials or other syndicated programming to fill overnight and early morning timeslots (similar to the overnight carriage of Headline News that is also common among stations). In later years, as NBC, ABC and CBS launched their own overnight news programs, ANC programming continue to air on stations affiliated with those networks as a complement to these programs and also to provide news programming in weekend time periods when network overnight newscasts are not airing. For a time in the early 1990s, KSTP aired ANC programming overnights in half-hour blocks, alongside local news reports, branded as Eyewitness News All Night. In addition, since ANC's newscasts never contained any copyrighted music (by design), stations broadcasting the ANC feed can stay on the air longer without increasing their ASCAP, Broadcast Music Incorporated (BMI), and/or SESAC fees.