Satellite News Channel launch a spin-off service, CNN2 (later renamed CNN Headline News shortly after SNC's launch; it is now named HLN), which originally maintained a format similar to that being planned by the Satellite News Channel – albeit with newscasts running in 30-minute intervals – as a preemptive strike against the ABC/Group W venture. CNN2 made its launch on January 1, 1982 on participating cable systems across the county as well as through a sneak preview block on sister channel Superstation WTBS. Satellite News Channel launched on June 21, 1982. During that time, it provided competition for CNN, the first cable network
CNN Tonight CNN Tonight CNN Tonight, branded as CNN Tonight with Don Lemon, is a late evening news/opinion program airing on CNN, focusing on the news of the day. Hosted by American journalist Don Lemon, the show airs weeknights from 10 p.m. to midnight (Eastern Time). The first hour is simulcast on CNN International. A program of the same name aired on CNN in the spring of 1985, as a replacement for Sandi Freeman until "Larry King Live" premiered. Another program of the same name debuted in 2001 with Bill Hemmer as anchor, but it was cancelled the same year. Another program