Over the weekend, CNN loosened some of the secrecy around the upcoming premium video product hinted at in June when free on-demand video clips were launched. The new product, called CNN Pipeline, will feature multiple live video streams from around the world, according to the press release. CNN News Group Pres (and my former boss at CNN/SI) Jim Walton presented a demo to the Television Critics’ Association summer press tour, and compared some other network’s recently announced offerings as being to ‘PONG’ as Pipeline is to Playstation. Jim doesn’t mince words, ya know.
There is plenty of buzz in the media and the blogosphere – here’s a roundup.
Amy and Sam both surprised me with very touching cards this morning on this, my first Father’s Day. That boy is really amazing. I could almost read his handwriting! We spent the day in relaxing, had a nice dinner out at Fritti with Sam getting all the attention, etc. To cap the day off, I’d encourage anyone reading the blog to visit the CNN.com free video site and find the ‘CNN’s dads give advice‘ video. You may have to use the ‘search’ box at upper right – just put in ‘dads give advice’ and you’ll find it. Really quite touching. Guess I’m turning into a big ol’ softie as a dad.
So after three long years where CNN.com’s video was a premium (ie – pay) product licensed to various wholesale companies as well as direct to consumers, the site launched on Saturday (two days ahead of schedule) their new free video product. Supported by the burgeoning broadband video advertising market, the new product is slated to feature some 30 new videos daily. I was involved in the product development aspects of the advertising technology and operations side of the project. This gallery shows the combined technical teams in our ‘Port:80’ conference room gathered for the launch effort, some 12 hours of work beginning at 6am on Saturday. The best news of all – it went off without a hitch, and the reviews are already coming in.
It’s all over the web today – CNN.com has announced a new strategy with their video products. I’ve been working on some aspects of these for a while – nice to see the project out in the public eye. Here are some quotes from today’s coverage:
CNN.com will make its existing online video offerings available for free beginning June 20 as it prepares a new video package that will cost money to watch. The company said the premium offering would deliver multiple live feeds and provide access to CNN’s video archives. Susan Grant (executive vice president for the CNN News unit that oversees the Web site) would offer no other details on the premium service or on how the free video would differ from the current offerings, other than its placement on the home page.
As part of the June 20 launch, the CNN.com home page will spotlight ad-supported video news coverage as part of a broader restyling of the site….The change reflects the background of CNN President Jonathan Klein–who came to the Turner Broadcasting unit from the FeedRoom, a company he founded that builds broadband Web sites and streams online content–although the Web project is being supervised by Susan Grant, executive vice president of CNN News Services.
