CNN Pipeline: Day 1

I'll be pseudo-live-blogging the first day of CNN Pipeline. Anyone who may interested should bookmark this entry and come back for additional updates. All times will be Mountain which is one hour ahead of the west coast, two hours behind the east and seven hours from GMT. This record of the service's launch is not intended to be comprehensive, it will be a periodic update and in-depth analysis will be capsulized at the end of the day, though my response to any potential comments should also add some color.

7:45 AM

Pipe1: Remarks from Donald Rumsfeld at John Hopkins

Pipe2: Saddam Hussein Trial

Pipe3: A TowerCam from Roanoke

Pipe4: Current Weather (Silent)

8:07 AM

Pipe1: Final Briefing from the 9/11 Commission

Pipe2: Saddam Hussein Trial

Pipe3: TrafficCam from the Golden Gate

Pipe4: Remarks from Donald Rumsfeld at John Hopkins

8:46 AM

Pipe1: Final Briefing from the 9/11 Commission

Pipe2: Saddam Hussein Trial

Pipe3: Holiday Reception at the White House

Pipe4: Helicopter Footage of Water Tower Rescue from Andrews AFB

8:56 AM

Pipe1: Commentary about the Hussein Trial

Pipe2: Saddam Hussein Trial

Pipe3: Holiday Reception from the White House

Pipe4: Final Report from the 9/11 Commission

9:06 AM

Pipe1: Pipe Preview, immediately followed by a News Recap

Pipe2: Air Force One Departing

Pipe3: Fixed Camera Showing Snow in Roanoke

Pipe4: Final Briefing from the 9/11 Commission

9:12 AM

Pipe1: Assorted Repackaged and Original Reports or Graphics

Pipe2: Air Force One Departing

Pipe3: TrafficCam from the Golden Gate

Pipe4: Final Briefing from the 9/11 Commission

9:34 AM

Pipe1: Business News

Pipe2: British Foreign Secretary Briefing

Pipe3: TrafficCam from the Golden Gate

Pipe4: Current Weather (Silent)

9:48 AM (time appr. - originally mismarked)

Pipe1: Malawi in Crisis

Pipe2: British Foreign Secretary Briefing (still not started)

Pipe3: A Fixed Camera Pointed at the White House Portico (no activity)

Pipe4: Current Weather (Silent)

10:07 AM

Pipe1: Top Stories, Repackaged and Original Reports

Pipe2: British Foreign Secretary Briefing (finally)

Pipe3: The UN Daily Briefing

Pipe4: A TowerCam from Roanoke

10:29 AM

Pipe1: News Headlines (was duplicating/promoting Pipe4 for about a minute, before resuming)

Pipe2: British Foreign Secretary Briefing

Pipe3: TowerCam from Roanoke

Pipe4: Air Force One Landing in Greensboro

10:41 AM

Pipe1: Top Stories, Repackaged and Original Reports

Pipe2: British Foreign Secretary Briefing

Pipe3: Fixed Camera Showing Snow in Roanoke

Pipe4: Current Weather (Silent)

10:54 AM

Pipe1: Top Stories, Repackaged and Original Reports

Pipe2: Footage from Helicopter of the Water Tower Rescue at Andrews AFB

Pipe3: Room in Kernersville where President Bush will be Speaking in 20 mins

Pipe4: Current Weather (Silent)

11:02 AM

Pipe1: Assorted Repackaged and Original Reports or Graphics

Pipe2: Empty Lectern in Preparation for the State Department Briefing

Pipe3: Event where President Bush will be Speaking in 12 mins

Pipe4: Current Weather (Silent)

11:13 AM

Pipe1: President Bush Speaking about the Economy in Kernersville

Pipe2: Still Empty Lectern in Preparation for the State Department Briefing (didn't start until 11:15)

Pipe3: Fixed Camera Showing Snow in Roanoke (Pipes 3 & 1 were dupes for a couple of minutes)

Pipe4: Current Weather (Silent)

11:37 AM

Pipe1: President Bush Speaking about the Economy in Kernersville

Pipe2: The State Department Briefing

Pipe3: Congressional Reaction to the 9/11 Report

Pipe4: The Air Force Awards

While I may continue to add content updates throughout most of the rest of the day after about three hours, a good idea of the service's first day and the void it will most likely fill has been conveyed. From a technical standpoint there have been a few minor glitches, such as a couple of times when the video jumped, but those were most likely due to web traffic. On at least two occasions, pre-British Foreign Secretary and pre-State Department, a high-pitched tone was heard and it certainly would jar anyone awake.

This morning's content has been admirable. Some interesting choices were made and I'm glad to see that the service isn't US-centric. The Rumsfeld briefing was also webcast via C-Span1 and the 9/11 briefing was live on C-Span2, so there was some duplication with existing services, but the concept of the console and the higher-quality video outshines. Otherwise, the only obvious advantages of the C-Span simulcasts are that they are free and though the video is of a lesser quality, the standalone player lets you get fullscreen.

Much of Pipeline's video is available only through the CNN service. The producers may want to better time their camera starts, the cameras were hot long before some events and a little more variety would be nice for the time-fillers. There have been a lot of pictures from Roanoke and I still don't know why were shown the White House portico. According to another of the pipes, the President was already airborne and I saw no activity, whatsoever, under the portico. I should also add that I saw no graphics to explain the reasons behind the water tower rescue. Periodically, we'd get an extended shot from a copter and we'd hear someone's two-way, but without consulting another source, it wasn't obvious why people were up there.

It does appear that the majority of people may just postage stamp the mini-window onto the first pipe and that seems to agree with CNN's thinking. Whenever big events were happening or were at their peak, the feed moved onto Pipe1. This morning's entry from Cory Bergman on the Lost Remote blog, bears this out because though he's a busy man with a job to do, it was obvious that he had mostly watched the first pipe. On a semi-related note, I also agree with his insinuation that a little more energy could be applied toward their produced segments. Their anchor and most of their original content gave off a CNN Weekend feel, it's like the anchored segments had been filtered through Byron Allen's syndicated program and if it were up to me, I'd give them a little more oomph.

Though there is room for improvement, I'd say it has been a good first day. The pipe-jumping is a little bothersome, especially if you're only listening and the console is buried on your desktop. In this event, when what you've been hearing is suddenly moved and you're given the silence of a towercam, it is enough to make you look. Also, because the idea of pointing a camera at news and letting it flow is not conducive to ad inserts, the subscription model is the only way for the service to work, but barring any steep declines in service, they will be keeping this satisfied customer. Though, I will continue to hope for improvements and more variety with the content.

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Correction: I have since learned that the main viewer will go fullscreen with a double-click.
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12:38 PM

Pipe1: Excerpts from the Hussein Trial

Pipe2: Fixed Camera Overview of the White House

Pipe3: Air Force One Departing from Greensboro

Pipe4: Helicopter Shots of a Suspicious Device in CA (initially no explanation, then a vague thing on the console)

1:25 PM

Pipe1: Excerpts from the Lionel Tate Hearing

Pipe2: Fixed Camera Overview of the White House

Pipe3: TowerCam from Roanoke

Pipe4: Briefing about the Upcoming World Baseball Classic

1:57 PM

Pipe1: Top Stories, Repackaged and Original Reports (Feed had significant problems during a repackage on live-blogging)

Pipe2: Fixed Camera Overview of the White House

Pipe3: Current Weather (Silent)

Pipe4: Briefing about the Upcoming World Baseball Classic

2:16PM

Pipe1: Excerpts from the 9/11 Commission Report

Pipe2: Fixed Camera Overview of the White House

Pipe3: Current Weather (Silent)

Pipe4: Empty Lectern in Advance of the NFL Commissioner in New Orleans

3:21PM

Pipe1: Excerpts from the President's Remarks about the Economy

Pipe2: Fixed Camera Overview of the White House

Pipe3: Current Weather (Silent)

Pipe4: Excerpts from the Hussein Trial

3:50PM

Pipe1: Assorted Repackaged and Original Reports or Graphics

Pipe2: Fixed Camera Overview of the White House

Pipe3: Current Weather (Silent)

Pipe4: Excerpts from the Hussein Trial

A Quick Suggestion to Break the Monotony

CNN used to offer a newsticker. I'm not finding a link, but it seems that the addition of a ticker which links back to the mainsite could be added to the console. I haven't studied the structure of their "Just In" box, but I didn't notice the breaking news alerts when they were fresh and if a ticker was added, it'd also be easier to flesh out some of the feeds and steer toward CNN.com.

Also, it'd be nice, if the console would adjust to local time for their stamps.

6:50PM

Pipe1: CNN International (Yay! And, worth the price of subscription)

Pipe2: Blank Newsource Feed

Pipe3: Blank Newsource Feed

Pipe4: Current Weather (Silent)

Follow-up Posts

CNN Pipeline: Day 2 - A Few Suggestions
CNN Pipeline: Revisited (One Week Later)

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For the most recent updates about CNN Pipeline, click the appropriate tag for later posts.