MUMBAI: News broadcaster CNN has announced that its website cnn.com has made a significant investment in broadband. This includes free video and a premium product that places the site at the control of the online user     
CNN.com will make the free video available from 20 June. It will unveil its complete premium product later this year with more options and features than any other online news and information site. As part of the June launch of free video, the CNN.com home page will prominently feature video as part of a restyling of the site. In addition, ad-supported video packaged specifically for CNN.com will be woven throughout the site on section fronts, story pages and special reports complementary to the content.

CNN News Services executive VP Susan Grant says, “Online users have begun to expect high-quality, up-to-the-minute news video as part of their news-browsing experience. With free video drawing from the extensive resources of CNN, our users get quick, reliable and accurate multimedia information, thus connecting them with CNN in a deeper, richer and more satisfying way.”

With the free video, online users each day can view various distinct on-demand videos across several topic areas, including politics, world news, business, sports, entertainment, science and technology and more. A specially designed video player enables users to search and organise videos so they can quickly focus on the content they wish to see. As part of the free offering, CNN.com staff will also produce two-minute newscasts every hour called Now in the News delivering the latest updates and breaking news.

Later this year CNN.com will offer a subscription-based service delivering multiple live video streams, access to CNN’s video archives and user-customized options. This new premium product will enable CNN.com users to get the full impact of watching the news with as much choice and control as watching television or using a web site.

CNN.com claims to be attracting an average of 23 million unique users each month. Launched in 1995, CNN.com draws from the worldwide resources of the CNN News Group to provide relevant, up-to-the minute news and information. CNN.com features the latest multimedia technologies, from video streaming to audio packages to searchable archives of news features and background information.