CNN tends to be direct licensing ie zero royalties.
I have seen royalties for background cues from Fareed ZaKaria’s special CNN shows.
The bottom line is that this is a flagship ad/ promo campaign for the entire network of CNN and it was broadcast globally most likely, with audience sizes of at least 50 to 100 million viewers. This is not a small potatoes media presentation.
I will be making noise about this one with the library as well as directly with BMI.
I have tunesat logs too. This piece aired relentlessly for about 2 months straight as 60’s, 30’s and 15’s. Why should it be treate any different than a major ad campaign?
