Current TV

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Template:Coord Template:Infobox TV channel Current TV is an Emmy award winning independent media company led by former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, and businessman Joel Hyatt. The cable television network went on the air at midnight EDT (4:00 UTC) on the morning of August 1, 2005. A second network, operated in the United Kingdom and Ireland started its operation March 12, 2007 for Sky and Virgin Media subscribers.

Current features "pods", or short programs, of which 30% are created by viewers and users.

An experimental Canadian show called ZeD was the first programmed broadcast of user-generated video content.[1] Other inspiration for Current TV came from a 1990s series on MTV called UNfiltered, where the network sent cameras to viewers in order to report on stories they thought were important. Current TV is the first 24-hour network based around viewer-created content, which it dubs VC².

1 Programs
2 History
3 Hosts
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Programs

Users (called VC² Producers) contribute three-to-seven-minute "pods", which are usually documentary in nature. The content is filtered by registered users on Current's website through a voting process. VC² makes up a portion of the content aired on the channel. Users can also create Viewer Created Ad Messages, or V-CAMs and Current TV promos which are small promotions for either Current TV or the general topic of VC². The channel has exclusive rights over viewer-submitted segments, but not copyright ownership.

Google provides hourly updates on popular web searches branded as Google Current. Current formerly had a business relationship with Yahoo! to supply video "channels" to The Yahoo! Current Network

Additional content is purchased by the channel through commercial methods.

Hosts on Current TV appear in a set based on The Chemosphere, built by American architect John Lautner in 1960. [2]

SuperNews! airs on Current TV.

[edit] History

After the 2000 U.S. presidential election, Gore and Hyatt wanted to start a conventional cable news network. They were disenchanted with the existing networks, especially CNN. The plan evolved into making a viewer-generated channel aimed at young people.

On May 4, 2004, INdTV Holdings, a company co-founded by Gore and Joel Hyatt, purchased cable news channel NewsWorld International (NWI) from Vivendi Universal for the express purpose of launching their new network with the space on some digital cable lineups (and DirecTV) that NWI had. The new network would not have political leanings, Gore said, but would serve as an "independent voice" for a target audience of people between 18 and 34 "who want to learn about the world in a voice they recognize and a view they recognize as their own." Other reports said that Gore hoped that the channel would help change the tide of "consolidation and conglomeratization" of the media by leading the change to "democratization." The news network was said to be a combination between CNN, MTV, and blipverts.

In the summer of 2004, Gore and Hyatt announced their new network, christened INdTV, with a series of public recruitment events. The first of these events was held at the Bambuddha Lounge in San Francisco's Tenderloin, on August 25. On April 4, 2005, the former Vice President and business partner Hyatt announced that they had changed the name of the network from INdTV to Current. The new television network launched in the United States on August 1, 2005. Currently, the network is available in 30 million homes nationwide in the US, with plans underway for several international versions.

On September 20, 2006, Current TV started a short-lived partnership with Yahoo to supply topic-specific "channels" to the Yahoo Video website. Called the Yahoo! Current Network, the first four channels, "Current Buzz", "Current Traveler" "Current Action" (about action sports) and "Current Driver" quickly became the most popular videos on the Yahoo Video web site. There were Yahoo branded segments on Current TV, similar to the Google Current segments. Additional web channels were planned. However, on December 6, 2006, Yahoo and Current TV announced the end of their relationship. [3] Madeline Smithberg, co-creator of The Daily Show, was the Executive Producer for this project.

On October 6, 2006, a deal was announced with British Sky Broadcasting to create a localized British version of Current TV to its satellite systems in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The British version went live on March 12, 2007.[4] The channel launched on Sky EPG number 229 and Virgin Media Channel 155.

In 2007 Current TV started VoD service on Virgin Media.

On September 16, 2007, Current TV won an Emmy award for Best Interactive Television Service at the 59th Primetime Emmy Awards. This was the first year in which this Emmy was presented during the primetime broadcast. The award was presented by Masi Oka of Heroes fame and MySpace founder Tom Anderson (through their own computers), and Al Gore and Joel Hyatt accepted the award on their behalf.^[1]