\n\tThe newest show on Disney+ is likely to have more surprising plot twists than any Marvel movie and more oddball characters than the latest series from \u201cStar Wars.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tWhat is it? The news.<\/p>\n
\n\tIn its first original daily program designed specifically for the streaming service, ABC News<\/a> will, starting each weekday at 6 a.m., dispatch James Longman<\/a> and Rachel Scott<\/a> to give viewers an 8-to-10-minute recap of the latest headlines. The latter may hold forth often from the White House or other powerful seat in Washington, D.C. while the former offers updates from the many overseas locales he regularly visits. And the Disney news division has plans to expand the show, \u201cWhat You Need to Know<\/a>,\u201d to other times for Disney+ subscribers. The series debuts July 21.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cIt\u2019s the first thing you will see on Disney+ as you wake up,\u201d says Almin Karamehmedovic, the president of ABC News, during a recent interview. Each episode\u201d will be available on demand on Disney+ for 24 hours before refreshing with a new report.<\/p>\n \n\tOther ABC News programs are \u00a0already available to the company\u2019s streaming subscribers. Two-hour \u201c20\/20\u201d true-crime tales regularly draw Hulu viewers<\/a>, while a and a search on Disney+ reveals the presence of dozens of episodes from staples like \u201cGood Morning America\u201d and \u201cWorld News Tonight.\u201d Like its rivals, however, ABC News is eager to get more of its journalism in front of digital audiences, who often have different expectations from programming than their counterparts watching traditional TV.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cAmericans have a lot going on in their lives. They want to stay up to speed on what\u2019s happening, not only here at home, but also internationally as well. And sometimes they don\u2019t have a lot of time to do it,\u201d says Scott. \u201cAnd so, this is going to be just the platform for them to get up to speed on the top stories.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tBringing an ABC News program specifically to Disney+ is the latest move by the units\u2019 corporate parent to widen the streaming service\u2019s thematic aperture. Disney+ was originally built to lure kids and families to Disney\u2019s colorful entertainment programming, but in recent months, there has been new emphasis on getting subscribers to \u201cbundle\u201d the streamer with other services, such as Hulu and ESPN+ \u2014 and making the process of jumping from one to the other as simple as clicking on a home-page tile.<\/p>\n \n\tTwo new developments will let the company do even more to bolster its streaming operations. Disney is set to launch in the fall a new ESPN service that will include its linear TV programming<\/a> (a new edition of \u201cSportsCenter\u201d designed expressly for Disney+ has already been unveiled). And by the end of July, Disney will control all of Hulu, after striking a deal with Comcast <\/a>to buy that company\u2019s 33% stake in the streamer for and with control of Hulu slated to be firmly under Disney with an acquisition of Comcast\u2019s one-third stake schedule for late this month for nearly $439 million.<\/p>\n \n\tDon\u2019t look for Longman and Scott to sit alongside each other in a glitzy studio. Each anchor is likely to deliver information from wherever they need to be in the course of their reporting day. Neither is giving up regular duties \u2014 Scott is ABC News\u2019 senior political correspondent, while Longman is its London-based chief international correspondent \u2014 and both will be able to contribute to the new show, which will be delivered live to tape, from wherever their duties take them.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cI\u2019m going to be able to do this wherever I go in the world,\u201d says Longman. \u201cI could have been doing it from Iraq, when Israel attacked Iran. I could have been doing it for from Ukraine. So, this is a way to take the audience with us into the places we\u2019re going, yes, to tell them what\u2019s going on in the world in the United States, but also give them that a little bit of insight into what we\u2019re doing every single day,\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tMore TV-news mainstays are asking their reporters, anchors and correspondents to tackle additional duties. Both NBC News and CBS News have evening-news anchors who combine their daily tasks tied to those signature broadcasts with a daily streaming host assignment. CNN has Kaitlan Collins working the White House beat and anchoring its 9 p.m. hour<\/a>.<\/p>\n \n\tMany news outlets have also worked to find out what news aficionados want from the broadband medium. CNN each weekday serves up \u201c5 Things,\u201d a 6-to-7-minute program anchored by Kate Bolduan, for subscribers to its HBO Max outlet. During the show, an energetic Bolduan offers up a review of top stories, then reminds viewers they just saw \u201cthe five things you need to know to get your day going. Now \u2013 get going.\u201d NBC News, meanwhile, has for years produced \u201cStay Tuned,\u201d a news program aimed at the young viewers who use the Snap short-form messaging app. Both companies have worked to extend these programs to such venues as podcasting or TikTok.<\/p>\n \n\tABC News\u2019 Scott and Longman expect to veer away from the traditional news trappings.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cIt\u2019s definitely a shake up,\u201d of the usual news formats, says Scott. \u201cThe two of us are not going to be behind the desk at all. We\u2019re going to be wherever the story is, whether that\u2019s in Washington, D.C., or out on the road.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\u00a0The idea behind the program, says Longman, \u201cis to try to reach new audiences, to find people where they are, with short snapshots of daily headlines. You really want to grab people\u2019s attention\u201d by taking news \u201cto people in a really short, digestible way, but making it conversational, having the kind of conversation with people at home that you would have with friends about the news.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tABC News could learn as much from \u201cWhat You Need to Know\u2019 as viewers. The news division is, like its counterparts, experimenting with a bevy of concepts to see which ones strike a chord with the younger viewers who use streaming as their primary means of watching video. CBS News has dispatched Major Garrett and John Dickerson to lead streaming programs, while NBC News has spotlighted streaming hours from Hallie Jackson<\/a> and Tom Llamas.<\/a><\/p>\n