Viewing the Pope's funeral, online and off
Scott Ard Former Editor in Chief, CNET
CNET former Editor in Chief Scott Ard has been a journalist for more than 20 years and an early tech adopter for even longer. Those two passions led him to editing one of the first tech sections for a daily newspaper in the mid 1990s, and to joining CNET part-time in 1996 and full-time a few years later.
There's no shortage of options for viewing the funeral of Pope John Paul II on Friday--from any of the major TV networks to an expected live Internet feed from the Vatican.
The Mass, to be given in Italian, is scheduled to begin at 4 a.m. EDT, although many TV networks are planning to begin coverage an hour early. An estimated 2 billion people may tune in to the tradition-laden ritual that could last 2-3 hours.
Under the heading "funeral Mass For The Roman Pontiff John Paul II," The Vatican's Web site has a link to the "live transmission of the Vatican Television Center." For the past several days, the Vatican has been providing a live video stream of the millions of people who have filed through St. Peter's Basilica to view the Pope's body prior to the funeral.