The White House has confirmed the Trump TV launch in Washington, offering a 24 hour stream of President Donald Trump’s speeches, announcements and archived appearances as ABC, CBS, Fox News and NBC suspend shared White House pool coverage and CNN, Politico and MS NOW challenge a ban on their reporters.

The official White House account on X announced the service on Monday, 21 September 2026, saying the stream would be updated in real time.

Also read: CNN, others take Trump to court over White House press ban

“IT’S LIVE. Trump TV is Streaming Now. 24/7, updated in real time, with top past moments, announcements, and the latest and greatest from the administration all in one place. Not every big moment has made it on your tv, now it can,” the White House said.

The stream, officially titled TRUMP TV: The Essentials Station, is available through the White House website and its YouTube channel. Separate reports said the service went live at 7pm Eastern Time.

The White House describes the platform as a home for the administration’s biggest moments, including videos, major remarks and highlights. Kaelan Dorr, deputy assistant to the president, called the feed a livestream of the administration’s greatest hits, unfiltered.

The first broadcast used previously recorded footage rather than a live presidential event.

Viewers were shown President Donald Trump’s address at Mount Rushmore on 3 July, with some reports also noting footage from the January 2025 inauguration.

The timing is not incidental. The Trump TV launch arrived in the middle of an escalating dispute over who may cover the presidency from inside the White House.

President Donald Trump last week barred CNN, Politico and MS NOW from White House grounds, accusing the three organisations of unfair or fake news coverage.

Journalists from the outlets had their badges confiscated when they arrived at the complex on Saturday.

CNN, Politico and MS NOW then sued the administration, arguing that the ban violates their First Amendment rights and that their credentials were withdrawn without due process.

“Without notice or process, the White House revoked our journalists’ credentials because it objected to our reporting,” the three organisations said in a joint statement. “Left unchallenged, this threatens press freedom and the public’s right to independent journalism free from government interference.”

The five networks that have long shared television pool duties, ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox News and NBC, then suspended pooled coverage of presidential events after CNN was prevented from carrying out its assigned pool role on Monday.

Bryan Boughton, Washington bureau chief at Fox News and acting chair of the television pool, told members that the TV pool would not cover events designated as pool coverage of the president.

Mr Boughton said there would be no replacement pool, though coverage of other officials would continue.

In a joint statement, the networks said: “The public has a vital interest in receiving accurate, independent information about its government. No administration should restrict a news organization because it objects to its reporting.”

The practical effect was immediate. Print, radio and wire journalists, together with still photographers, continued to cover the president.

But the shared television feed that newsrooms around the world rely on was withdrawn.

At a Monday ribbon cutting for a new White House helipad, President Donald Trump could not be heard clearly on the official livestream because the boom microphones usually provided by the pool were absent.

Critics, including some members of the mainstream media, have described the new channel as an attempt to build a form of state media.

The White House has framed the project differently, presenting it as a way to put official video in front of the public without depending solely on television networks.

Also read: CNN, others take Trump to court over White House press ban

The new service does not replace independent reporting. It does, however, give the administration a direct route to circulate its own pictures and sound at a moment when the traditional pool system has been thrown into unprecedented strain.