Click to enlarge

CNN has launched an online service, dubbed Pipeline, featuring live video in four simultaneous streams (CNN calls them pipes; one of them is CNN International for part of the day) as well as recorded videos and archived material, writes the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (via paidContent). The service has been in development since September 2004 and 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.

Though most news on the web is free, CNN plans to charge about $25 a year for Pipeline and won't include any ads. CNN needs "several hundred thousand" subscribers to recover its costs. The service will be promoted on CNN.com at first and later via a marketing campaign.

PC users can shrink Pipeline to a small box on the computer screen - to encourage users to run Pipeline all day. PC users download a program to run Pipeline. Mac users, for now, use a web version.