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Al Gore Wants His VTV (Guess What the "V" Stands For)
New York Observer ^ | October 15, 2003 | Joe Hagan

Posted on 10/15/2003 7:15:09 AM PDT by PJ-Comix

As former Vice President Al Gore edges toward mini-media-moguldom, press sources quoted his partners this week as saying that Mr. Gore would go younger, not leftier—and now, if his plans work, The Observer has learned, Mr. Gore’s news channel could be … VTV.

V for victory, V for Vice President, V for Vermont, which Mr. Gore won by 30,000 votes in 2000.

In April, Mr. Gore’s principle business partner, Joel Hyatt, purchased a Web site called V.tv from The .tv Corporation, which supplies .tv domain extensions to customers like TBS, the Lifetime Channel and PAX. The company’s Web site lists Mr. Hyatt as V.tv’s administrative contact and as a representative of INDTV, L.L.C., located in Stanford, Calif., where Mr. Hyatt teaches business at Stanford University. An industry source confirmed that INDTV is the working incorporated name of Mr. Gore and Mr. Hyatt’s TV project, which has been characterized in press reports as either a news network for the reality-TV generation or a liberal answer to Fox News, or both.

As of this writing, V.tv has not yet been activated.

According to the .tv Web site, the price of a fancy one-character domain name is $10,000. Mr. Hyatt didn’t return calls seeking comment, so it’s hard to know what the V in VTV stands for. One can only visualize Winston Churchill—or John Lennon—holding up two fingers.

If VTV sounds like that other three-lettered channel so beloved by the Oxy Cream generation, that’s no coincidence. Mr. Gore’s channel will reportedly be geared toward the young Democrats of tomorrow, who can relate to Mr. Gore’s fixation with the Internet and hand-held digital-video cameras (V for va-va-video!). Mr. Gore was a fan of MTV’s late-90’s video-diary show, Unfiltered, and met with the show’s producer earlier this year to talk about similar programming concepts.

With that in mind, The Observer called up a few members of the potential consumers in VTV’s future target audience to see if they’d ever flip to a channel that aired "edgy" 24-hour news about, say, Iraq and file-sharing and those bad, bad Fox News commentators.

"Yeah, I’d be interested," said Jimmy Jung, a 23-year-old advertising assistant. "I’d be curious. I don’t know if I’d check it out all the time, but probably."

Mr. Jung assumed that, if Mr. Gore was involved, it would be "liberal-slanted media." In fact, Mr. Gore’s name had to be considered, even if the respondents were fond of the idea.

"I’d be hesitant, because it’s being operated by former Vice President Al Gore," said Sarah Lewitinn, a 23-year-old assistant editor at Spin magazine whose friends call her "Ultragrrrl." "But at the same time, it’s cool that he’s trying to bring current affairs to the young. I think people get their information from MTV anyway, so here’s a network for them, which is kind of smart. I know a lot of people in my age group are really unaware of what’s going on in the world. They know more about the new Strokes album than what is going on in Iran and Iraq and Syria."

She said it would have to be something with a sense of humor, like The Daily Show, to work. But Elliot Aronow, 23, a public-relations assistant, said it needed to have some gravity. "It depends how seriously they took themselves and how much they gave young people an opportunity to report what they see," he said. "I think young people need to be informed, but not pandered to with all sorts of jump-cut, MTV-style editing. On the other hand, I do believe that most conventional news is totally disconnected from most young people."

Karen Ruttner, a 22-year-old intern at a music-booking agency, gave The Observer the bottom line: "The truth is, when it comes to important news, I don’t really care what people my age think. I’d rather hear the professional opinions of, like, seasoned news vets—people who know history and can really be comforting."

Josh Rosenblatt, 20, a student, said he had actually worked on Mr. Gore’s Presidential campaign in the former Vice President’s home state of Tennessee in 2000—and even he wasn’t too sure about Mr. Gore’s new thing.

"I like him as a person and as a candidate, but I don’t know how much I trust him with TV," he said. "I just think, for the average 18-to-21-year-old or whatever they’re aiming for, you can’t fool them into liking politics. At the end of the day, they have to compete with The Daily Show."

But what do the seasoned professionals think of it?

"I think there’s a market for it, but a small market," said Jim Murphy, the executive producer of the CBS Evening News. "How are they going to engage people? Personality? Smarts? You can do it by being hip, but news is not a hip thing. College-age kids and kids in their 20’s are interested in what’s going on, but it doesn’t mean they want to consume news. Can you make them feel young, smart and hip by watching this? Sure. But can you do that with homegrown documentaries? No."

For now, Mr. Gore and his partners are still negotiating the $70 million acquisition of digital-cable network Newsworld International from Vivendi Universal after French-owned Vivendi agreed to merge the rest of its entertainment assets with NBC.

Another unresolved question: Will VTV air reruns of V, the 1980’s sci-fi series about rodent-eating aliens who take over the earth? They should! That is, if their deal with Universal isn’t Vaporized.

For now, the only place on the tube where you can see the Gore-like Vulcans is on Star Trek: Enterprise.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News
KEYWORDS: algore; goretv
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To: Redbob
WOW! Check out this info from the Web that I found out about Algore's VTV partner, Joel Hyatt:

Hyatt ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate in Ohio in 1994 for the seat of retiring Sen. Howard Metzenbaum, his father-in-law. One issue raised in that Ohio electoral campaign related to the parallels between the Academy Award-winning movie "Philadelphia," starring Tom Hanks, and the lawsuit filed by a lawyer with AIDS who had worked for Hyatt's law firm. According to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Hyatt's senatorial campaign office made available a statement issued by Tri-Star Pictures, which produced the movie, stating that their story was not "based on any particular person, law firm or incident." In 1990, Hyatt's firm was sued by an employee who claimed he was dismissed because he was ill with AIDS. According to the New York Times account of April 13, 1990: "Federal District Judge Raymond J. Broderick ruled that Hyatt, a pioneer in low-cost legal clinics, had illegally removed the head of its Philadelphia office, Clarence B. Cain, after learning he had AIDS." The Times quoted the judge as saying the firm had mounted a "corrupt assault" on Cain's dignity and that the firm's conduct "was not merely inexcusably insensitive" but "so outrageous" as to warrant punitive damages.

41 posted on 10/15/2003 8:11:51 AM PDT by PJ-Comix (Ahnold Groped Eva Braun While Popping 100 Painkillers Per Day!!!)
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To: PJ-Comix
VTV will always be LIB-TV to me.
42 posted on 10/15/2003 8:19:03 AM PDT by TexasCajun
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To: PJ-Comix
Vanity or Void (as in a-void)
43 posted on 10/15/2003 8:19:14 AM PDT by 2grit
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To: PJ-Comix
"Vacuous"

The only word that really fits Algore.

44 posted on 10/15/2003 8:23:34 AM PDT by lstanle
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To: PJ-Comix
I still like the idea of naming the channel "Al's Super Station".
45 posted on 10/15/2003 8:28:40 AM PDT by SWake ("Estrada was savaged by liars and abandoned by cowards." Mark Davis, WBAP, 09/09/2003)
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To: lstanle
"Vacuous"

I believe we have the sense of the meeting clearly identified.

46 posted on 10/15/2003 8:32:22 AM PDT by headsonpikes (Spirit of '76 bttt!)
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To: PJ-Comix

"I miss the soccer-moms. All they talk about is "Vagina", "Vagina", "Vagina".
What can I do to attract them again ......?

47 posted on 10/15/2003 8:37:34 AM PDT by Diogenesis (If you mess with one of us, you mess with all of us)
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To: PJ-Comix
Vacant TV
48 posted on 10/15/2003 8:38:06 AM PDT by OrioleFan
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To: PJ-Comix
Vagrant TV
49 posted on 10/15/2003 8:38:36 AM PDT by OrioleFan
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To: PJ-Comix
Villify TV
50 posted on 10/15/2003 8:39:12 AM PDT by OrioleFan
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To: PJ-Comix
Until something better comes along, I will always call it RATCOM.
51 posted on 10/15/2003 8:39:52 AM PDT by Petronski (I'm *NOT* always *CRANKY*.)
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To: PJ-Comix
For now, the only place on the tube where you can see the Gore-like Vulcans is on Star Trek: Enterprise.

That's unfair! The Vulcans showed humor, deep and logical thought, and subtle emotion. Algore shows none of that.

52 posted on 10/15/2003 9:22:55 AM PDT by exDemMom (Michael Jackson for Governor! <--Boo-hoo! He lost!)
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To: PJ-Comix
This "network" is going to be one of the biggest bombs. These people haven't a clue why people tune into FOX, Rush, etc. People are interested in thoughtful analysis and perspective, not propoganda.

Investors in this are clueless.

53 posted on 10/15/2003 9:23:59 AM PDT by johnwayne (I)
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To: PJ-Comix

Vaseline !!!

.

54 posted on 10/15/2003 9:48:14 AM PDT by GeekDejure
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To: PJ-Comix
Sorry Al. There already is a VTV. Varsity Television is a channel for teens and high school sports. http://www.myvtv.com/index.asp
55 posted on 10/15/2003 10:10:31 AM PDT by garmonbozia
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To: PJ-Comix
"Venom"
"Vulgar"
"Vulture"
"Void"
"Virulent"
"Vitriolic"
56 posted on 10/15/2003 10:27:51 AM PDT by Rockitz (After all these years, it's still rocket science.)
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To: Rockitz
"Victim"
"Verdant" (as in green with envy)
"Vengance"
"Varnish"
"Veneer"
57 posted on 10/15/2003 10:34:08 AM PDT by Rockitz (After all these years, it's still rocket science.)
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To: Redbob

Vivisection TV

58 posted on 10/15/2003 11:14:51 AM PDT by PeaceBeWithYou (De Oppresso Liber!)
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To: Diogenesis

"I drank what?"

"Is it, is it painless?"

59 posted on 10/15/2003 11:24:04 AM PDT by PeaceBeWithYou (De Oppresso Liber!)
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To: PeaceBeWithYou
Vermin
60 posted on 10/15/2003 11:30:14 AM PDT by Fellow Traveler
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