Saturday nights are about to get real over at CNN.
The cable news network is set to begin airing HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher” one day after new episodes air on the premium movie network, parent company Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) announced on Monday.
The first “Real Time” rebroadcast will take place Saturday, March 23 at 8 p.m. Eastern Time (5 p.m. Pacific Time), the networks announced. The show will still broadcast live on HBO East each Friday evening, with replays on HBO throughout the week.
“The addition of Real Time With Bill Maher to CNN’s weekend prime-time lineup marks the start of a commitment and investment into topical entertainment programming that we’re bringing to the weekends,” Amy Entelis, the Executive Vice President of Talent, Original Programming and Creative Development at CNN, said in a statement. “We’ve seen that audiences enjoy Bill’s perspective and approach to news and information, and we’re looking forward to the show now being on CNN.”
Real Time has been largely exclusive to HBO since it debuted in 2003, with an uncensored audio version of the show distributed as a podcast. Clips from the program are available on YouTube and various social media platforms.
Last year, CNN began airing “Real Time: Overtime,” an extended portion of the show that takes place after HBO’s broadcast on Fridays. The program was previously exclusive to YouTube, and is now made available on the video platform one day after it airs on CNN.
Less clear is how Real Time will look on CNN: The program runs nearly 60 minutes long, without commercials. By comparison, most news, opinion and lifestyle shows on CNN run around 42 to 48 minutes with commercial breaks, depending on the program.
WBD and HBO renewed Real Time for two additional seasons last week, with the show slated to continue airing on the network through 2026.
