Headline News is a spin-off network from the original Cable News Network (CNN) television news network in the United States.

Launch

Initially broadcast as CNN2 on January 1, 1982, the network renamed itself one year later to CNN Headline News. The use of "CNN" in the title of the network has been intermittent throughout the network's broadcast years.

The network's programming focused around the idea that a viewer could tune in at any time and, in just 30 minutes, receive the most popular national and international stories, in addition to feature reports. The format, known as the Headline News Wheel, featured "Dollars and Sense" personal finance reports at 15 and 45 minutes past each hour, Headline Sports at 20 and 50 minutes, lifestyle reports at 25 and 55 minutes past each hour, and general news during the top (:00) and bottom (:30) of the hour. Another regular feature was the "Hollywood Minute" which was often fitted in after the Headline Sports segment. In the network's early years, a two-minute recap of the hour's top stories, the CNN Headlines, would run after the sports segment.

The Jukebox effect

In the late 1990s, Headline News pioneered using a digital video jukebox to recycle segments of one newscast seamlessly into another newscast. The new technology led towards the network needing less staff due to the ability to use segments throughout an entire day (it replaced the former method of having anchors read the same stories repeatedly hour after hour, with the second 15 minutes of each half hour in the wheel being on videotape every third and fourth hour). During this period, the network laid off part of its staff, including such stalwart anchors as Lyn Vaughn, David Goodnow and Bob Losure, all of whom had been with Headline News for over 10 years.

A new look

With the start of the new millennium, the network became noted for its distinct "screen" starting in August of 2001, in which the news anchor (or news footage) appears in a sort of visual "window" surrounded by constantly changing text, such as breaking news, sports scores, stock market reports, and weather updates.

Format changes

Due to the growing competition from the Fox News Channel and MSNBC, Time Warner revamped CNN Headline News in 2003 towards a more flexible format, featuring live reports and two anchors hosting the network's rolling news coverage.

'' in February of the same year.

The networks new programs included Showbiz Tonight with A. J. Hammer and Karyn Bryant, a program focusing on the celebrity news of the day, a self-named legal news and discussion program, hosted by Nancy Grace, and a general national news program titled Prime News Tonight, hosted by Erica Hill and Mike Galanos. This eliminated the main difference between CNN Headline News and CNN during primetime, which had always broadcast a variety of news-related programs, such as documentaries and personality-based shows like Larry King Live.