A week or so ago, occasional SiliconANGLE contributor Michael Sean Wright and I engaged in a friendly debate on FriendFeed.  He had noticed that CNN was continually plugging Twitter as if they were a partner in the Time-Warner empire, and theorized that they’d soon either be acquiring the micro-blogging network or at least launching a news program or channel focused on news-gathering via the hot new medium.

I contended that I didn’t think CNN was really that with it, particularly since they acquired their second-place dominance on Twitter only after finding out second hand that Ashton Kutcher challenged the unknown individual who created the CNN Twitter account (thinking it was actually CNN) to race to one million followers.

Michael and I made a gentleman’s bet, since neither of us were able to convince the other of the position. I’m not sure this story qualifies me as a winner of this bet, since CNN technically could still launch their partnership, though it would certainly look rather copy-cat now: ABC has essentially announced that they’re adopting that idea:

"Nightline" is expanding its ongoing relationship with Twitter to develop "NightTline," a new half-hour digital program hosted by the show’s anchors and correspondents that provides a forum for viewers to simultaneously discuss and debate the news of the day through the prism of Twitter.

The nature of this relationship isn’t exactly disclosed, but I must admit I’m pretty curious as to the details. Are they buying in? Are they licensing technology or getting special access to the firehose?

We’ve sent an email to both parties, but are still awaiting reply (we’ll update you when we find out).