CNN website to replay Sept. 11 coverage

Last Updated Fri, 25 Aug 2006 18:37:35 EDT

American cable news network CNN will mark the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks by replaying their coverage of that day's events on the internet.

Viewers will be able to watch how the events unfolded starting at 8:30 a.m. ET, minutes before the first reports of an airplane hitting the World Trade Center. The feed will run in real time, matching the broadcast of five years ago, until midnight.

CNN is making its online video service, CNN Pipeline, free for the day. Normally viewers pay $2.95 US a month or $24.95 US a year for four separate video feeds.

In order to prevent an online viewer from accidentally clicking onto the coverage, the replay feed for the attacks will be covered with a notice instructing users to enter only if they wish to watch. Another feed on the site will feature live coverage of memorial services.

"They have the power to determine the best way for them to remember the anniversary," said David Payne, senior vice-president and general manager of CNN.com.

The Sept. 11 attacks are not the only American tragedy to be replayed in the next month.

CNN and the major networks are planning extensive coverage next week to commemorate the Hurricane Katrina disaster last year. Among the programs are NBC's Katrina: The Road Long Back, which airs on Monday, and Fox News Channel's blanket coverage, titled America's Challenge: Rebuilding the Gulf, beginning on Saturday.

Filmmaker Spike Lee's four-hour HBO documentary, When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts, will also air in its entirety on Tuesday, Aug. 29, the date Katrina made landfall.

With files from the Associated Press

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