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Is Anybody Watching? [Gore' Current TV]
sfweekly ^ | February 8, 2006 | Ron Russell

Posted on 02/08/2006 10:47:16 AM PST by ncountylee

Six months into Al Gore's experiment to turn twentysomethings into TV news junkies, the former vice president's San Francisco-based cable channel -- Current TV -- appears to have hit a snag. Prospective viewers, even those who've heard of the youth-oriented news and information channel, are having a hard time finding it on cable systems, either because cable providers aren't carrying Current or because they've relegated it to more expensive -- and therefore less purchased -- cable packages.

In San Francisco, home to Current's headquarters in refurbished digs across King Street from SBC Park, Comcast offers Current on its Channel 125. But it is available only to subscribers who purchase the cable company's most expensive tier of digital programming. And that places it out of reach for many in the 18- to 34-year-old demographic that Current seeks to woo.

"We stay in touch with what our customers want, and right now I would say [Current] is definitely a niche channel," says Andrew Johnson, Comcast's vice president for communication for the Bay Area. "It's not up to us to create a demand for Current."

If Johnson sounds a bit defensive, it could be because Current's high-profile chairman, Gore, and its CEO, former Stanford business professor Joel Hyatt, have been on a tear lately, jawboning the cable industry for better "carriage" as they struggle to get viewers to take notice.

In speeches around the country, Gore has lit into cable executives for not putting on programs "that are in the best interest of the American people." In what industry insiders refer to as "guerrilla lobbying," Gore, who is said to spend about a week a month in San Francisco as the channel's marquee executive, delivered a speech last October at an outdoor rally (and Current-sponsored rock concert) in Philadelphia...

(Excerpt) Read more at sfweekly.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: current; currenttv; gore
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1 posted on 02/08/2006 10:47:17 AM PST by ncountylee
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To: ncountylee

Current TV keeps Gore's record of flops untarnished.


2 posted on 02/08/2006 10:47:53 AM PST by ncountylee (Dead terrorists smell like victory)
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To: ncountylee

Silly Gore.

This kind of programming is a shoe-in for PBS.


3 posted on 02/08/2006 10:48:44 AM PST by martin_fierro (< |:)~)
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To: ncountylee

Maybe if he shows naked lesbian playing hockey...


4 posted on 02/08/2006 10:50:25 AM PST by 2banana (My common ground with terrorists - They want to die for Islam, and we want to kill them.)
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To: ncountylee

He should be out from behind a camera, getting rid of internal combustion engines and inventing some new Internets.

And where's that handsome beard?


5 posted on 02/08/2006 10:51:50 AM PST by AbeKrieger (Islam is the virus that causes al-Qaeda.)
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To: ncountylee

Watch what?


6 posted on 02/08/2006 10:51:57 AM PST by Dallas59 ((“You love life, while we love death"( Al-Qaeda & Democratic Party))
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To: ncountylee

""We stay in touch with what our customers want, and right now I would say [Current] is definitely a niche channel," says Andrew Johnson, Comcast's vice president for communication for the Bay Area. "It's not up to us to create a demand for Current.""

Translation:

No one is watching this POC channel.


7 posted on 02/08/2006 10:52:14 AM PST by Signalman
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To: ncountylee

I watched Current when it first came on for an hour...it was some of the worst programming I had seen in quite some time. It was like watching a high school newscast for classrooms when you were in home room. I turned it on the other day as I was flipping by it and I again watched something about Darfur and some how found a way to pin issues on the U.S. not doing enough...(U.N.? HELLO?)...but any time I flip by it..there is some hysterical angry 20 year old raging on about how bad the world is and how Bush is a criminal.

Who wants to watch this crap? I mean its bad enough it is buried on channel 201 or whatever it is.


8 posted on 02/08/2006 10:52:15 AM PST by My Favorite Headache ("Scientology is dangerous stuff,it's like forming a religion based around Johnny Quest and Haji.")
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To: 2banana
Maybe if he shows naked lesbian playing hockey...

I guess there's always a way to get me to watch....

9 posted on 02/08/2006 10:52:59 AM PST by AbeKrieger (Islam is the virus that causes al-Qaeda.)
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To: ncountylee
Gore should be on BET.
Audio clip of his 2000 NAACP speech.
10 posted on 02/08/2006 10:53:02 AM PST by stainlessbanner (^W^)
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To: ncountylee

Bring in 40-something Sean Penn to generate interest among young journalists? That'll work. Sure.


11 posted on 02/08/2006 10:53:50 AM PST by GSWarrior
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To: Bobkk47
From the article:

Although 20 million households have access to Current, actual viewers constitute only a fraction of that number, industry sources say. As with other niche cable channels, the perceived audience for Current is deemed too small for even ACNielsen to bother measuring.Although 20 million households have access to Current, actual viewers constitute only a fraction of that number, industry sources say. As with other niche cable channels, the perceived audience for Current is deemed too small for even ACNielsen to bother measuring.

Also:

However, in the months since it went on the air, Current has yet to announce any new cable deals to expand the meager distribution footprint it inherited when it bought Newsworld. It is distributed in only about 20 million households (roughly 50 percent of them via Rupert Murdoch's DIRECTV), barely half the number industry experts say is necessary if Current is to succeed financially.

With power concentrated in the hands of a few cable giants, including Comcast and Time Warner, it's a tough sell for any channel not owned by a media conglomerate to break onto TV screens. But that may be especially true for Current, precisely because its chairman is Gore, observers say. As a U.S. senator, Gore helped push the Cable Act of 1992, which cost the industry many millions of dollars by restricting how cable operators charge consumers and earned him the scorn of some of the same executives whose favor he now needs to help jump-start his fledgling cable enterprise.


Algore's been on a tour against the cable companies for not carrying his channel. Too bad.
12 posted on 02/08/2006 10:55:11 AM PST by conservative in nyc
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To: martin_fierro

the funny thing is I have actually watched a bit and realized that at least a third of the "viewer generated news" stories are nothing more than commercial promotions...that's right, young capitalist are using Gore TV for profits!

Its usually in the form of " A look at how web based businessses are built" or "The struggles of a new band in releasing their album", but all are invariably subtle pitches for products.

There is something delicious about Gore TV being used for free advertising...


13 posted on 02/08/2006 10:56:20 AM PST by Will_Zurmacht
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To: 2banana

"Maybe if he shows naked lesbian playing hockey..."

I would assume that is field hockey?


14 posted on 02/08/2006 10:56:59 AM PST by EQAndyBuzz ("We don't need POLITICIANS...we need STATESMEN.")
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To: ncountylee

Err America gets these gerbil-powered AM stations at the high end of the dial to carry their crap programming by paying them to. Maybe Gore needs to break out the checkbook.


15 posted on 02/08/2006 10:58:00 AM PST by CFC__VRWC ("Anytime a liberal squeals in outrage, an angel gets its wings!" - gidget7)
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To: ncountylee

This kind of TV went out a long time ago...

http://www.lostinspacetv.com/


16 posted on 02/08/2006 10:58:10 AM PST by gov_bean_ counter (It is easy to call for a pi$$ing contest when you aren't going to be in the line of fire.)
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To: AbeKrieger
Maybe if he shows naked lesbian playing hockey and broadcasting the news at the same time, and the terrible leftist lean is removed, and I was 20 years younger...
17 posted on 02/08/2006 11:00:30 AM PST by edgrimly78
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To: ncountylee

Sounds like EWTN


18 posted on 02/08/2006 11:02:43 AM PST by mike182d ("Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?")
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To: My Favorite Headache

Your should see freespeechtv. it is some of the worst quality and insanly (and i mean clinically insane) programing and comentators.

It is pure Goebles.


19 posted on 02/08/2006 11:04:08 AM PST by longtermmemmory (VOTE!)
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To: ncountylee


"Err, just fishing out my ratings, that's all!"
20 posted on 02/08/2006 11:05:10 AM PST by reagan_fanatic (Darwinism is a belief in the meaninglessness of existence - R. Kirk)
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