New CNN Service

The uncrowned leader of the news reporting world, CNN, has finally recognized that a great many of its users (and readers) have abandoned dial-up Internet connections in favor of broadband connections such as DSL, cable, and fiber optics. So they created a new premium service that makes use of these broadband connections.

Called "CNN Pipeline," the new service has actually been in development for over a year. It went on-line last week and has signed up plenty of subscribers, at least according to their own press release. The technology for Pipeline is four live video streams, which offer mostly unedited looks at news events throughout the world. These streams, or "pipes," can be played in a special video player and chosen by Pipeline's editors in Atlanta.

Last Thursday night, Pipeline offered video streams from CNN International, a memorial service for slain Beatle John Lennon in Central Park, the House of Representatives and a traffic cam on a snowy Chicago night. When news broke out from Chicago's Midway Airport that a Southwest Airlines jet slid off a runway, the third stream became live video from the scene at the airport.

Live coverage isn't the only aspect of CNN Pipeline. The video player offers users the ability to see the top stories in video, get other news on demand and even browse CNN's vast archives. But what you won't see is whole programs. CNN doesn't believe it is a good thing, despite what others in the news industry are doing on their web sites.

Pipeline costs $2.95 per month or $24.95 for a year's subscription. You can also sign up for a 14 day free trial. You can read more about it on CNN's web site and even see a demo of how it works.