Former Vice President Al Gore announces new TV network

Former Vice President Al Gore is in San Francisco to announce the creation of a new television network, called IN-d-T-V. IN-d-T-V is an independent media company led by Gore and entrepreneur Joel Hyatt.
It's a new network aimed at young liberal viewers. The announcement will be made at the annual convention of the National Cable Television Association.
http://www.kesq.com/Global/story.asp?S=3162941

Gore television station sets launch date
A cable channel recently acquired by an investment group led by Al Gore is to relaunch Aug. 1 under the name Current, hoping to generate much of its content from viewers, the Wall Street Journal reports Monday. (rest of the journal story here)

http://rawstory.com/news/2005/index.php?p=239

Cable Channel as Youth Forum
By JOE FLINT
A cable channel recently acquired by an investment group led by Al Gore is to relaunch Aug. 1 under the name Current, hoping to generate much of its content from viewers.The former vice president and his partners, including entrepreneur Joel Hyatt, are taking an unconventional approach to TV programming in hopes of attracting viewers aged 18 to 34. That demographic, heavily sought by advertisers, has become difficult for TV networks and newspapers to reach. Messrs. Gore and Hyatt say they hope young people will use the channel as a forum to express their opinions on news and current events. Viewers will be invited to submit short films, documentaries and home videos to be aired on the channel. Mr. Gore's group also has struck a deal with Google Inc. to use information from Google in its programming.

He seems to be covering all the bases

Ohio lawyer and son-in-law to Retired Senator Howard Metzenbaum of Ohio.


Great family ties.....:)

and cable companies. I will begin by writing my cable carrier to carry it.

Broadening the channel's distribution is likely to be a top priority. Newsworld, which now carries an assortment of international newscasts, is available on satellite TV and cable-TV services in about 20 million homes. Mr. Gore's group hopes to boost its distribution to 50 million homes in five years. In comparison, channels such as CNN and MTV are available in 80 million to 90 million homes.

Mr. Hyatt said the channel has commitments from current distributors, which include DirecTV Group Inc., Comcast Corp. and Time Warner, and will try to negotiate carriage deals with other cable and satellite operators.

Finally, a cable news channel that actually will care about what the American people think!

Where is my remote? What channel is it on?

Ok... deep breath... will have to wait...

You mean some of the characters on DU might end up on TV?

The JimmyJazz show?

"News of the Weird" by matcom?

This would even be better than The Osbournes!

I'd like to know where it will be televised. I don't think my cable co. will air it, as they have been RNC contributors. Any info on radio links will be appreciated also.

This really is a revolutionary approach.

Sorry, color me skeptical. How many times has this been announced, anyway? This is at least the fourth time, IIRC.

I'll believe it when I see it.

real or photo shopped? Cool!!

And I'm with you, believe it when I see it on air.

I had to give it back.

It's art, not Bush.

:rofl: :rofl: :blush:

...that made it sound like an absurd fiasco, with producers making borderline fraudulent use of the ideas and demos they were receiving. Maybe they've gotten it together since then, but this whole idea of viewer-submitted material sounds like the essence of scattershot ineffectual wankery. I hope I'm wrong.

What a great way to get ordinary people to communicate with not-so-internet-savvy folks.


http://www.cafepress.com/liberalissues/472476

Wishful thinking.

Hooray for Our Rightful President, Al Gore!

How are they planning to attract viewership without regularly scheduled programs or consistent production values?

For all of you who are hoping for a liberal alternative to Fox News, this is not it.

Your faith in Al Gore is touching, but how many of you realize that he is destroying the closest thing we have to a liberal news station (News World International, with most content provided by CBC) in order to create the TV equivalent of a blog?

World News Trust has plans for a 24/7 news cable network. Gore's venture is no threat to that.

there will be plenty of regularly scheduled programming.

I doubt I'll be able to get until I am 100 years old (I'm in south Texas), but I am happy anyway!
:bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

:)

:bounce:

A segment called "Google Current" will report on what topics are generating the most interest on the Web, using Google as its source. Google doesn't do its own reporting, but will rank the topics, based on which subjects generate the most search queries. A Google spokesman confirmed it struck an agreement with Mr. Gore's group.

if such a procedure was used by MSM!
Remember the pundits that said Air America was going to fail!

instead of what you're told to focus on.

REAL GOOOOD!

If anybody remembers the early days of MSNBC it was somewhat like this.
Remember the panels of young pundits disussing the news all day?

gotta love it

Amy Goodman, Naomi Klein, Robert Fisk and Will Pitt

I am on board with that lineup

for today, and MANY days to follow.

this new channel automatically be part of the package? If not someone out line the steps we need to take in order to get this channel into our own packages.

Second, I have wondered what the retiring anchors, Bill Moyer, Dan Rather, Walter Cronkite were going to do after they retired. I cannot believe that they are going to set back and do nothing. In fact Walter Cronkite is extremely busy in our progressive movement. I now see them as doing docs, interviews, etc. for this new outlet.

Others who would now have a safe outlet would be investigative reporters like Greg Palast.

I recently read a children's biography of Patrick Henry and in one section it made a good point about how the revolution was won: there were three leaders: Patrick Henry the Orator, Thomas Jefferson the Writer and George Washington the Charismatic Leader. It occurred to me that is what we Democrats need. Al Gore and Richard Byrd are Great Orators, we have many excellent writers including bloggers, and all we need is that Leader.

DirectTV and you can bet that he is building that media power for selfish and nefarious reasons. There is no reason that you should either help Murdoch or submit to Murdoch.

He has no intention of forgetting or letting us down.

Where will they be headquartered?

search on indtv - they have a few postings and say there will be more.

shoot.

It shouldn't be "aimed" at anyone. just get some real Journalists and start reporting the news again. BTW where can I send my resume?

jobs@current.tv

Profit :)

Also, gear towards younger crowd... they're the trendsetters.

There's no audience for anything other than conservative teevee and books and radio. Look at Air America. It tanked within weeks...Oh, wait, um, nevermind.

:sarcasm:

1st story on the air.. How Bush stole the 2000 election.. its called "unprecedented" .. watch it!

See http://www.current.tv/index.php.

March 29, 2005
Google vs. News Inc.
Posted by Dana Blankenhorn

The real Hardball isn't the game show on MSNBC, where politicians lie and yap at one another.

It's something far more serious, played every day, by huge corporations that masquerade as guardians of the public interest, but are in fact as corrupt as the rest of us. (That's LA Times founder Harrison Gray Otis on the right. More about Harry Otis here, near the bottom of the page. I direct David Shaw's attention to the quote from Theodore Roosevelt.)

The prerogatives of these corporations and their hirelings, who call themselves journalists (then deny this status to you and me) is under threat on this medium as never before. They're scared, and they're playing Hardball.

http://www.corante.com/mooreslore/archives/2005/03/29/google_vs_news_inc.php

But we have to wait til August 1st?

The Repubs are gettin nervous! With Clear Channel turning Liberal on their asses, and now this!!!!!

We need this soooo bad.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Former Vice President Al Gore Monday unveiled his new television network, Current, which aims to attract younger viewers with its short videos and tie-in with the popular Google Inc. search engine.

The network plans to debut Aug. 1 and be available to 19 million subscription television viewers, Gore said at a news conference at the cable industry's annual convention. Gore led an investment group that last May bought the network from Vivendi Universal for an undisclosed sum.

(Later...)

Gore, who lost the 2000 election in a bitter contest with current President Bush, seemed to have put politics behind him, insisting the channel would not be a liberal pulpit.

"We have no intention of being a Democratic channel, a liberal channel, or a TV version of Air America; that's not what we're all about," he said, referring to the liberal radio network.

Gore serves as chairman of the board of that channel.

http://money.cnn.com/2005/04/04/news/newsmakers/gore_tv.reut/index.htm?cnn=yes

is that too much to ask for, Mr President?

Although I would prefer in-depth truth. Hopefully it won't be all shorts.

nt

-- his best ever.

If this tv idea is half as good as those speeches, it should be worth it.

Go, Al.

takes away my Newsworld International, I'm gonna be one unhappy TV viewer.
Do not hold out hope for this new channel. I've seen parts of the line-up.
It's awful.

Once again Al Gore took the initiative!

Thanks Al!

Gore TV Network to Launch in August, Google Tie-In

(4/4/2005) -- Former Vice President Al Gore on Monday unveiled his new television network, “Current”, which aims to attract younger viewers with short videos and a tie-in to the popular Google search engine.

The network plans to debut on Aug. 1 and be available to 19 million subscription television viewers, Gore said at a news conference at the cable industry's annual convention. Gore led an investment group that last May bought the network from Vivendi Universal for an undisclosed sum.

The channel will show professionally produced segments as well as viewer-produced videos mostly short in length, running from a few seconds to up to 15 minutes. "We are about empowering this generation of young people in their 20s, the 18-34 population, to engage in a dialogue of democracy and to tell their stories about what's going in their lives in the dominant media of our time," he said. Viewers will also be able to vote for their favorite videos and get tutorials via the Internet on how to produce their own segments, according to network officials. . .

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20050404/us_nm/media_gore_dc_7

While the channel itself may not shake the rafters with it's content, getting young people involved in making their own media NOW might have a tremendous effect ten to fifteen years from now.

That's the same sort of thinking that brought us the public internet. :)

...who will get his due long after he's gone, I fear. He's not always been my favorite politician, but he is a much more of a visionary than most political people.

Maybe he missed his calling. If he'd been a research fellow at some think-tank, a professor, or taken some other career path than politics who knows what he could have done - or might never have done.

:bounce:

From what I hear, Bush seems to think there are at least 3 or 4.

"We have no intention of being a Democratic channel, a liberal channel, or a TV version of Air America, that's not what we're all about," he said, referring to the liberal radio network."
And Bush insisted that there were no WMD's. I don't believe for one second that Al will pass up this opportunity to give the GOP some payback, and right before the mid-term elections, too.

So far, they have agreements involving DirecTV's "Total Choice" tier, as well as in certain markets operated by Comcast Corp. and Time Warner Inc.
Well, that's definitely good news--last year, it was going to be satellite only. I'm in a blue state covered by Comcast, so hopefully, I'm in--unless it's going to be premium channel.

:headbang:
rocknation

change from the one-sided coverage all the networks offer nowadays.

I'd settle for some real reporting that's fair to both sides.

The former vice president and longtime Internet champion joined investors Monday to announce the creation of Current, a cable TV channel that will target younger viewers with a blend of news, culture and viewer-produced video. Gore will serve as chairman of the board of the new venture, which will be based in San Francisco. He and Joel Hyatt, the founder of Hyatt Legal Services who will serve as Current's chief executive, assembled an investment team that paid $70 million last year to acquire the Newsworld International channel from Vivendi International.


The channel, to launch Aug. 1, will remain privately financed and initially will be available in 19 million cable-subscriber homes.

We're about empowering this generation ... to engage in the dialogue of democracy and tell the story of what's going on in their lives in the dominant media of our time," said the 57-year-old Gore.

Sergey Brin, the 31-year-old co-founder of Google, praised the channel as an effective way to distribute video in a way that frees it from the limited bandwidth and other technological challenges that has kept it from being widely available on the Web. "The one remaining area where it's been hard as both a contributor and as viewer of user-driven content is video," Brin said. "Given that Current has taken on this challenge ... I think this could be a really fantastic experience. I'm looking forward to a much greater breadth of TV viewing



http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050405/ap_on_en_tv/gore_tv_channel