Is Anybody Watching? [Gore' Current TV]

sfweekly ^ | February 8, 2006 | Ron Russell

[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...

[ncountylee]

Current TV keeps Gore's record of flops untarnished.

[martin_fierro]

Silly Gore.

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

[2banana]

Maybe if he shows naked lesbian playing hockey...

[AbeKrieger]

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?

[Dallas59]

Watch what?

[Signalman]

""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.

[My Favorite Headache]

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.

[AbeKrieger]

Maybe if he shows naked lesbian playing hockey...

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

[stainlessbanner]

Gore should be on BET.
Audio clip of his 2000 NAACP speech.

[GSWarrior]

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

[conservative in nyc]

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.

[Will_Zurmacht]

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...

[EQAndyBuzz]

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

I would assume that is field hockey?

[CFC__VRWC]

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.

[gov_bean_ counter]

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

http://www.lostinspacetv.com/

[edgrimly78]

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...

[mike182d]

Sounds like EWTN

[longtermmemmory]

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.

[reagan_fanatic]

"Err, just fishing out my ratings, that's all!"