A 40-year-old Florida woman gave birth to a boy on Tuesday in the first-ever live birth on the Internet before an estimated audience of two million people, a cable health network said.

"The baby was just born. Everything's fine. Everyone's in good shape," America's Health Network spokeswoman Barbara Rodriquez said.

The mother, identified only as Elizabeth, had labour induced at 6 a.m. EDT (1000 GMT) and gave birth at 10:40 a.m. EDT (1440 GMT), Ms Rodriquez said.

The network had billed the birth at Arnold Palmer Hospital for Women and Children as an educational event. Crews turned a hospital room into a television studio and the birth was shot from a "discreet" angle over the mother's shoulder.

Doctors said Elizabeth was a perfect candidate for the event. She already had three children and her previous deliveries had been swift. In addition, she had already decided to have labour induced, a necessity for timely delivery of the event to an Internet audience.

The Website of the health network is www.ahn.com.