Snap's biggest advantage may be that it doesn't own one camera with a TV anchor in front of it, but that it can gather the views from cameras all of the world for an event.

The potential of all those viewpoints, for news and entertainment, is enormous. Nearly 10 million people in the US watched Snapchat's Live Story on Hurricane Matthew as it hammered the east coast. But Snap is still waiting for the defining moment that makes its advantage over the television screen crystal clear and undeniable.

When Captain Chelsey Burnett "Sully" Sullenberger landed an Airbus airplane on New York's' Hudson river in 2009, the photo spread instantaneously on Twitter, and Twitter's usefulness for news junkies became obvious.

It's still unclear what Snap's "Sully" moment will be.  Right now, only 17% of Snapchat users get the news from the app, according to the Pew Research Center.

But Snapchat is taking the steps it thinks it needs, like focusing deeper on global news events versus only local stories, to grow into a media destination.

Between the breaking news from the Snap team, the new wave of shows from its Discover partners, and its outreach to Hollywood for more original content, Snapchat is amassing the variety of shows it needs to truly become the mobile TV for millennials.

SEE ALSO: What it’s like to work at Snapchat, one of the most secretive companies in tech

The maker of the popular social networking app wants to fill its online service with a slate of original video programming that ranges from breaking news to entertainment and reality shows.

Snapchat has been laying the groundwork for a bigger push into TV for awhile.

In 2015, the company had created its own in-house content team run by a former Fox exec and launched a music channel, called "Under the Ghost." Both efforts were shut down as Snapchat regrouped on its content strategy and laid off a lot of the team behind it.

A year later, Snapchat's ever-changing content strategy is focused on partnering with networks to develop entertainment programming, while leaving some of the news coverage to Snapchat's editorial judgment, according to the source with knowledge of the plans.

In August, the company announced it had partnered with NBC to develop Snapchat-specific episodes of some of its hit shows, including "The Voice", "Saturday Night Live", and "The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon." It was a process that took two years to court the network and develop the show ideas, according to Mashable.

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That could always change though. According to one source, Snapchat is set on creating a "mobile TV" or programs designed superficially for an attention-short, vertical-video-watching audience. The company has already pressured some of its Discover partners, like MTV, to develop Snapchat specific shows. On Sunday, a PBS documentary series, POV, will debut its first of two six-minute documentaries shot for Snapchat. 

Next up: news

The other key to Snapchat owning mobile TV is becoming the news outlet of choice for the millennial audience, turning traditional news "on its head" says the source familiar with the plans.