As networks continue to market video on its Web sites to high-bandwith users, computer screens are becoming a home away from home for TV viewers. Enter CNN, who announced Sunday that it will offer paid subscribers access to its premium streaming video service. Called CNN Pipeline, the service provides users with on-demand video streams from the network's major news outlets as well as in-depth features, CNN.com and wire stories, and a search feature.

"We thought we needed to take something to the next level," said CNN Networks chairman Jim Walton, who gave an onscreen tour of CNN Pipeline during the Television Critics Assn.'s summer press tour at the Beverly Hilton. "What I'm about to show you right now is PlayStation or Nintendo or GameCube," Walton said. The four live streams of video content will be available 24/7; what ones to show will be chosen by CNN.com's editors. He said that it will be live but it won't be raw. There will still be an editorial process, and CNN.com will turn away from anything that doesn't fit standards.

The network, a pioneer in the news industry, recently lifted the for-pay video restriction on its Web site, which is one of the top sites visited on the Web. The move to broadband likely marks a shift in target demographics, as the coveted 18-to-24 age group has shown an increasing reliance on the Web rather than television for news and information. Walton noted that "the growing broadband buzz" was the major reason for the network's move to launch the video service, and with advertisers eager to market to a younger demographic, it would be within CNN's best interest to attract viewers outside of its cable market. Currently, advertisements from GM, Chase, Xerox, UPS, and Verizonall companies aggressively marketing themselves to Generation Yprecede the free video clips available on the CNN Web site.

Although rival CBS News announced last week that it would be retooling its Web site as a 24-hour news service, CNN says that it did not take any cues from the CBS project, noting that "the projects were on parallel and separate tracks." Another competitor, ABC News, also offers subscription access to its nightly news and magazine shows.

CNN Pipeline will be available this fall for an as-yet-unannounced monthly charge. Windows users will be able to install the CNN-developed player, but Macintosh users will have to content themselves in the meantime with a Web-based client.