I can’t play videos in any browser and it seems only CNN videos are affected. I installed firefox specifically to test so I have no extensions, etc that would block the videos and they still don’t play. I tried all the options on How to Fix Videos not Playing in Firefox? with no help. Specific to firefox, I’m running 125.0.1(64bit) for Manjaro - 1.0. I checked and I have h264 and ffmpeg installed. Am I missing some other codecs that only CNN uses or something? Are they still using flash? I don’t get any info on the player they use as where the video should be only shows up as an image.
Welcome to the forum! 
CNN? No loss, there. 
Sorry, couldn’t help it.
No. Flash is long dead.
Back on topic, do you have a specific video link so we can attempt to reproduce it?
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Yea, it’s been like this for more than a year and I haven’t missed anything but occasionally it would be nice to view one of their videos. I also don’t know if this affects other sites. This is the video I’m trying to watch so I can’t post it to my friend, a trumper.
https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2023/09/18/donald-trump-wwii-gaffe-sot-earlystart-vpx.cnn
That video works fine for me even with AdGuard blocking 36 things (probably mostly trackers).
Taking a look (and trying to turn off possible blocking things) I think its the same here.
And also the same using --safe-mode.
Drat.
Well I wonder what it could be then… 
EDIT.
Maybe its DRM ? @gnuorder can you ensure that DRM is enabled in settings?
I think I’m in safe mode but it doesn’t say but I still can’t play the video.
DRM is controlled in the settings.
Ok, DRM was on by default. I turned it off and tried and no help. I turned it off again and no help. I turned it on again and no help. The only plugins are openh264 and widevine and they are always activated.
I do have a DNS based ad blocker on my router but I think CNN videos worked in Ubuntu. I will check that next after dinner.
I similarly forgot my hulking hosts file.
Not all of these are CNN proper, but some are..
$ grep -i cnn /etc/hosts
0.0.0.0 account-metric-mvm-vcnndapi.hb-api.tt.omtrdc.net
0.0.0.0 ads.cnngo.com
0.0.0.0 agility.cnn.com
0.0.0.0 analytics.cnnchile.com
0.0.0.0 aolturnercnnmoney.112.2o7.net
0.0.0.0 aolturnercnnmoney.122.2o7.net
0.0.0.0 b-cdn.cnnturk.com
0.0.0.0 ccnnetwork.co
0.0.0.0 ccvvnmcnnvkdkdfoojddd.site
0.0.0.0 cdfcnngojhp.com
0.0.0.0 cnn-africa.co
0.0.0.0 cnn-breaking-news.info
0.0.0.0 cnn-local.info
0.0.0.0 cnn.122.2o7.net
0.0.0.0 cnn.bounceexchange.com
0.0.0.0 cnn.entertainment.printthis.clickability.com
0.0.0.0 cnn.leak-video.org
0.0.0.0 cnna.io
0.0.0.0 cnnbank.site
0.0.0.0 cnnc.prodepl.top
0.0.0.0 cnnected.org
0.0.0.0 cnnespanol.net
0.0.0.0 cnnews.fr
0.0.0.0 cnnnewsnigeria.com
0.0.0.0 cnnturk.api.useinsider.com
0.0.0.0 cnnx.link
0.0.0.0 collector-dev.cdp-dev.cnn.com
0.0.0.0 collector.cdp.cnn.com
0.0.0.0 collector.dmp.cnna.io
0.0.0.0 customad.cnn.com
0.0.0.0 data.cnn.com
0.0.0.0 ddcnnamkeiedjdjnc.site
0.0.0.0 eieiikajdmcnnd.site
0.0.0.0 facnnbmk.pl
0.0.0.0 fr.2test-metric-mvm-vcnndapi.hb-api.tt.omtrdc.net
0.0.0.0 gccnntq.cn
0.0.0.0 gdyn.cnngo.com
0.0.0.0 haydayhack.cnn-local.info
0.0.0.0 healthguides.cnn.com
0.0.0.0 hnjkcnntdg.com
0.0.0.0 iggy.cnn-local.info
0.0.0.0 kcnnrj.cn
0.0.0.0 leaked.cnn-local.info
0.0.0.0 lightning.cnn.com
0.0.0.0 logg4u.cnnd.vn
0.0.0.0 metrics.cnn.com
0.0.0.0 mms.cnn.com
0.0.0.0 optimize-accnnt.com
0.0.0.0 pbnncdnkcnncjikj.org
0.0.0.0 rbxycnnesqsjc.com
0.0.0.0 registry.api.cnn.io
0.0.0.0 sanalytics.cnnchile.com
0.0.0.0 sharefb.cnnd.vn
0.0.0.0 smetrics.cnn.com
0.0.0.0 smuc.cnnfootballclub.com
0.0.0.0 v20.cnnd.vn
0.0.0.0 wcnndaazbwmane.com
0.0.0.0 www.cnn-newsupdates.com
0.0.0.0 www.cnnc.prodepl.top
0.0.0.0 www.facnnbmk.pl
0.0.0.0 www.i.cdn.cnn.com
0.0.0.0 xcnn.com
0.0.0.0 z.cdp-dev.cnn.com
0.0.0.0 zion-telemetry.api.cnn.io
0.0.0.0 zion.api.cnn.io
0.0.0.0 zjgugp2gcnno2t32.assets.net.daraz.com
0.0.0.0 zjgugp2gcnno2t32.javhihi.net.daraz.com
0.0.0.0 zjgugp2gcnno2t32.partner-pay.net.daraz.com
Let us know what you find (because I dont feel like turning off more things :-P).
Well, there ya go. What software and what blocklists are you using?
I have diversion on ASUSwrt-Merlin. I tried disabling DNS direct which points to it to no effect. I added cnn.com and www.cnn.com to the white list to no effect. rebooting the router next.
I can play that video just fine - as I can anything else
and always could any video from there
ublock origin in the browser
BBC and other deliberately localized content is a different matter.
I normally use Opera and have Chromium and a few other browsers installed but I installed firefox specifically to remove ublock or other extensions as a factor. The video doesn’t play on any browser. Also the video doesn’t show up as a video or media player. Normally you can right click and see what player it is but It shows up as an image which I think is a clue. Let me check BBC.
They just often have content inaccessible if you are not actually at the right physical location
(or use a VPN which fakes it)
Probably not the issue here.
Yea, BBC works fine. I figured I would check to see if there are other sites that don’t work. So far it’s just CNN.
Indeed. That means it’s an HTML5 player. 
Spoiler alert, you can also watch CNN Video’s on youtube.
Just use ublock origin extension and you can watch add free 
I couldn’t view the video on Firefox (possibly due to one or more of the gazillion extensions I have installed - I didn’t use safe-mode). However, I could view it on Falkon browser. It ran quite a lengthy ad before displaying the video, so my guess is that the topic starter’s ad-blocker on their router is the culprit.
A possible fix could be for @gnuorder to open Firefox’s settings (about:preferences in the address bar), search for DNS (or select the Privacy & Security section on the left of screen) & change the DNS over HTTPS settings from Default Protection to Increased or Max Protection, so that Firefox uses Cloudflare or NextDNS instead of the router’s DNS.
I am running Diversion and uBlock Origin. That CNN video runs fine here. My diversion hostlists are as follows:
https://big.oisd.nl/dnsmasq2
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/hagezi/dns-blocklists/main/dnsmasq/pro.txt
I haven’t specified anything regarding CNN in my allowlist or denylist. Maybe your list(s) are too aggressive. DRM is never enabled here . FF Nightly x64 , No Proxy, DNS over HTTPS is “off”.
DNS Provider is OpenDNS (ipv4 only)
That worked. I set DNS over HTTPS to max and it plays now so I gather it is the router. I’ll work on the router to see if I can allow CNN on all browsers and post back the results.
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