Tuesday, May 22, 2007
CNN to Abandon Fee for CNN PipeLine
Source: AJC The free-lunch-on-the-Internet crowd has won another round.CNN is giving up on the idea of charging for CNN Pipeline, launched in late 2005 as a $25-a-year service providing four "streams" of video with footage of breaking news.
CNN plans to redesign and repackage its Internet offerings, said spokeswoman Jennifer L. Martin. Plans call for "folding" Pipeline into that new format on July 1.
More than 6 million users visit the CNN site each day. CNN declined to say how many are subscribers to CNN Pipeline. However, on its best day — the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks — Pipeline pulled in 1.2 million viewers.
But it was free that day, as it is on days of major news events, Martin said.
The idea in Pipeline was to exploit the habit of many American office workers who check news on the Net during the day. CNN hoped that people would gladly plunk down a few dollars to add moving pictures to the stories and photographs.
There are several reasons to give up charging. For one, it is has become much cheaper to deliver video, Martin said. "Today, bandwidth is much less expensive than when CNN Pipeline launched, and online news consumers are streaming broadband video at a much greater rate."
Moreover, it appears CNN was unable to overcome the popular notion that, like butterflies, clicks are free. Figuring the Net-consumer might simply prefer smaller bites, CNN added variations on the pricing, offering monthly access for $2.95 and even a 99-cent day pass.
CNN will not charge for Pipeline after this month. After that, some subscribers will get a refund, Martin said. "It is not fair to charge for a year if they didn't get a full year.
# posted by ATN @ 10:18 AM 
