• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, July 29, 2005

America Online Thursday said it would expand its existing content partnership with ABC News, to give visitors to AOL.com access to more content, including unedited news feeds from hot spots around the globe.

AOL, which just last month began relaunching its site as a free, ad-dependent property, relies on a number of sources other than ABC for its streaming news video, including Reuters, CNN, and the Associated Press.

Through video content that ABC News provides AOL News, the Web portal said it is able to build features from "InstaPolls," blogging, and chat rooms to boost interaction between the site and its users. AOL made use of a number of those features during the last presidential election, said Lewis D'Vorkin, vice president of AOL news services.

D'Vorkin emphasized that AOL.com will offer users multiple live video streams, which will feature raw footage of simultaneous live video streams from ABC News. "From Judge Roberts' Senate hearings to breaking news from terrorist attacks in London or mudslides out West, our users will be able to watch it live and unanchored," D'Vorkin said.