Turner to Launch Business Channel on Three Fronts.(Originated from The Atlanta Journal and Constitution)

ANAHEIM, Calif.--Nov. 30--CNNfn will become the first news channel to be launched simultaneously on cable TV, the Internet and desktop computers when it airs Dec. 29.

New technology will enable Turner Broadcasting System Inc.'s latest channel to offer continuous sound and film to computer users. They'll also be able to record and save any of the financial news channel's shows on their computers.

"We conceived CNNfn as a network with different streams of complementary data, " says Harry Motro, vice president of CNN Interactive. "With CNNfn's new media elements, viewers have many ways to augment the news on-air, giving them unprecedented choices and depth of business information."

CNNfn also announced Wednesday that it had added another 1 million subscribers by gaining the important New York City market. Time Warner Cable's Manhattan system has agreed to offer the new channel, beginning Jan. 2. Time Warner Cable's parent, Time Warner, and Turner Broadcasting plan to merge, pending regulatory approval.

With the addition of New York, CNNfn will have 5.5 million subscribers, a good start in today's highly competitive market. But CNNfn is small compared with its main competitor, CNBC, which has 50 million-plus subscribers.

One way CNNfn is trying to distinguish itself from CNBC is through technology.

From day one, CNNfn will have a site on the Internet's World Wide Web at http ://www.cnnfn.com. This home page will offer more than stock quotes, background stories, company profiles and transcripts. It will also have multimedia presentations of business news that include sound, video and text.

In addition, users will be able to ask questions and make comments on the Web page, which will then be shared on the air.

Turner Broadcasting has already teamed up with computer chip giant Intel to offer a product called CNN at Work, which delivers CNN live to desktop computers.

Users will be able to track stocks. They'll also be able to search for and save stories of particular interest throughout the day.