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CNN to Start Live Net Video Service

Posted on: Monday, 5 December 2005, 21:00 CST

By Scott Leith, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Dec. 3--CNN is gearing up for its next foray in the new world of media: an online service that will feature the network's first extensive use of live video on the Internet.

CNN will launch the new service, dubbed Pipeline, on Monday. Unlike CNN's current Web products, which lean on text or video snippets that aren't live, Pipeline will feature four video streams. The service, in development since September 2004, has its own staff, studio and news anchors at CNN Center in Atlanta.

"You can't find anything like this on the Web," said David Payne, senior vice president of CNN News Services and general manager of CNN.com.

One goal is to get people to use CNN Pipeline on their computers while at work, especially if they don't have a TV nearby. Pipeline also is meant to have a much different feel from CNN or CNN Headline News. Among other things, CNN Pipeline will feature raw video --- of the latest car chase, weather disaster or congressional hearing --- with relatively little commentary from anchors.

The trick: getting users to both understand the new service and then pay for it. In an environment where most online news is free, CNN plans to charge about $25 a year for Pipeline. The content won't include any ads.

"We think there's an appetite to build off the fundamentals of CNN.com," which is a free site, said Susan Grant, executive vice president for CNN News Services. The live video available on Pipeline is costly and needs backing from subscribers.

"If we could afford to give it away, we would," Grant said.

So far, few media companies have had success with paid news content. The Wall Street Journal is a rare exception, with its 764,000 paid online subscribers. The New York Times is still in the early days of offering TimesSelect, a paid service that chiefly features the work of columnists.

CNN, meanwhile, hasn't had much luck. In June, it dropped fees for videos at CNN.com, giving up after about three years.

Michael Castengera, a consultant who teaches journalism at the University of Georgia, thinks CNN is wise to at least try something new.

"Anybody doing anything innovative is smart, at this point," he said. "How successful it will be is the big issue."

CNN Pipeline will be available via a link at CNN.com. PC users must sign up, then download a program to run Pipeline. Mac users are confined to using a Web version for the time being.

During the day, the Pipeline screen will display several options --- four live streams, or what CNN dubs "pipes" --- plus recorded videos and access to archived items. From 8 p.m. to 8 a.m., Pipeline will include CNN International among the pipes.

PC users will have the option of shrinking Pipeline to a small TV-like box that can sit in the corner of a computer screen. Payne said this kind of unobtrusive application is aimed at keeping people interested in running Pipeline all day.

"We'll have totally sunk productivity in America," Payne joked.

But David Hazinski, a faculty member at the University of Georgia who has consulted with CNN, is skeptical about Pipeline. For one thing, the lack of anchor narration might prove to be a shortcoming, not a strength. "Otherwise, it's wallpaper," Hazinski said. "I don't get it."

While CNN's offering of live video is unique, the network will have to lure users to a product that is noticeably different from CNN's other services. Payne said CNN needs "several hundred thousand" subscribers to recoup its costs.

Grant said Pipeline will be promoted on CNN.com at first and later via a marketing campaign.

Other networks, meanwhile, aren't sitting still when it comes to online video. NBC broke ground in November by starting to offer "NBC Nightly News" as a "netcast," although hours after the original broadcast airs.

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To see more of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.ajc.com.

Copyright (c) 2005, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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TWX,

Source: The Atlanta Journal and Constitution

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