CNN launched its new commerical free and subscription-based video-streaming service Pipeline at 8am ET Monday morning.

The service, which is available for 99 cents per day, $2.95 per month or $24.95 per year in the US, UK and 23 other countries, features four "pipes" of live news feeds. Between the hours of 8am and 8pm ET (1pm and 1am GMT), Pipe 1 features a fully-produced, anchored news service; the other 3 pipes alternate between raw coverage feeds and weather reports.

Pipeline's first day highlighted the strengths of the four-stream proposition. Pipe 1 offers a compelling combination of live event coverage and in-depth news reports anchored by a special team at the CNN Center in Atlanta. The presentation is closer to what CNN/U.S. used to be famed for before the days of high story count, fast-paced newscasts; packaged reports are allowed to play out for minutes at a time without glitzy graphics interfering with the presentation, and live correspondent two-way reports are able to go on longer and cover topics more in-depth. Instead of being whisked from story to story at frentic pace lest they pick up the remote and channel surf, viewers are able to choose either the anchored stream or one of three other choices. From 8pm to 8am, Pipe 1 simulcasts CNN International, a decision that should please those in the US who have missed CNNI's reporting since the closure of CNNfn last December.

"CNN Pipeline provides the ultimate news experience for all types of consumers," said David Payne, senior vice president of CNN News Services and general manager of CNN.com. "Designed for people to ‘watch and work,’ CNN Pipeline gives consumers commercial-free choices and control. Easy to use and elegant in design, CNN Pipeline is to online news what the iPod is to digital music."

Another strength of the service is the VOD element. CNN has made much of its extensive video archive available and searchable through CNN.com and the Pipeline application.

"Today, the CNN.com user not only can read a story and view video on demand, but with CNN Pipeline, also can take control of daily news clips, several live streams of news and even video from CNN’s extensive archives," said Susan Grant, executive vice president of CNN News Services. "CNN Pipeline creates an added dimension to online news, offering an experience that is even more relevant, credible and catered specifically to the user’s needs."