Can you watch Al Gore TV next month? Will you?

[Eric J in MN]

It will replace Newsworld International on cable.

http://www.current.tv/

[Melodybe]

1. If it's on the air, I'll give it a go.

[Eric J in MN]

3. Do you get NewsWorld Intennational now? nt

nt

[AlCzervik]

2. Newsworld is gone?

[Eric J in MN]

4. In the US, it will be replaced by the Al Gore channel "Current." nt

nt

[BattyDem]

5. "Current" will take over NWI, right?

Right now, I get NWI so I assume I will also get Current .... and yes, I will watch it to see what it's all about. :-)

[Eric J in MN]

7. Right (nt)

nt

[NYCGirl]

6. Here's an article about it from the other day...

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2005/07/11/goretv/index.html

Excerpt:

As Gore and his partners see it, TV today is a staid medium, one that can't match the interactivity of the Internet. But new technology -- cheap digital cameras and easy-to-use laptop-based editing tools -- have given young people new chances to televise their lives, to document what happens to them in ways that we don't see on CNN and the broadcast networks. "How many of you would like to see an opportunity to talk about what's going on in our world -- that you can participate in with television?" Gore asked the party revelers. On Aug. 1, when Current TV launches on several satellite and cable TV systems -- reaching, at first, about 19 million households -- Gore believes young people will finally get that opportunity.

But while Current will be televised, it's not at all clear that the revolution Gore has promised will make it to the screen. You can't argue with Gore's planned innovations -- interactivity, openness, a willingness to tell stories that buck the mainstream. What remains to be seen is whether his network can realize the goals without compromise. Television is a tough business, one in which entrenched interests -- advertisers, investors, politicians -- pull many strings. Gore says he wants to create a TV network that embodies the freewheeling air of the Web. But skeptics wonder if Current will really tell young people the stories nobody else will tell, the stories -- about the Downing Street memo, say, or Bush's bulge, or rumors of election fraud -- that often first emerge online.

Some Current observers say the former vice president's network looks less like a plan to remake TV than an attempt to make money by going after the lucrative youth market. In the past few months, many young filmmakers who initially saw Current as a perfect way to showcase their creativity have begun to change their minds about the network. Late last year, the network disappointed throngs of its most passionate supporters when it suddenly canceled an effort to hire hundreds of "digital correspondents" to work on its staff. The correspondents were to be full-time Current employees who'd roam the nation -- and possibly the world -- looking for provocative stories to bring to television. Thousands of people applied for the positions, and the network's unexplained cancellation of the program created a trail of ill will among the videographers. Contributors now work on a contract basis rather than as staff; the network says this is a "more democratic" practice than the digital correspondents program because anyone is free to send videos to the network.

Activist filmmakers like Wolf say that despite Current TV's revolutionary rhetoric, the station appears uninterested in hard-hitting political footage. As Ari Berman pointed out in the Nation in April, "'politics' is simply another word in Current's programming lineup, not a guiding theme." Wolf, who created a San Francisco "Meetup" group to bring other filmmakers to the network, says Current's rhetoric rings hollow. "My beef is not what they're doing, but the difference between what they're saying and what they're doing," he says. "I want to make television that makes people think. But I worry that Current TV seems to be making television that's very similar to other television. Television that you don't have to think about."

[Eric J in MN]

9. It's a bit early to say that there will be no

"hard-hitting political footage."

[Newsjock]

8. No; I'm too old for Current

They've been so blatant in their promotion and development that they want "young" viewers ages 18-34, that it's put me totally off from any positive message they might be trying to put out there. I really didn't like their implication that, since I'm older than 34, Current won't be "for me."

But then again, looking at some samples of what they've got coming down the pipeline, they may well be right on that point.

All told, I think we're better served by Newsworld International, and it's a shame to see that source of global news vanish from U.S. screens -- and even more disheartening that Al Gore has done so apparently in pursuit of the almighty dollar.

[Eric J in MN]

10. Why couldn't Al Gore have bought the Game Show network

or something like that instead of NewsWorld International?

[NYCGirl]

11. Because NWI was for sale? NT

[Eric J in MN]

12. Was it seeking a buyer before tha Al Gore network went looking? nt

nt

[NYCGirl]

13. Yep. It was losing money badly.

Edited to add: I'd read that Gore and Hyatt got it for a bargain price (don't remember where the link is).

[Eric J in MN]

16. Does it consist mostly of showing the CBC? nt

nt

[NYCGirl]

17. There are also Japanese news shows, and other international news.

I don't watch it nearly as much as I should, but I'll miss NWI.

Here's an example of their schedule:

http://www.nwitv.com/schedule/

[Eric J in MN]

19. Is "World Update" from the Canadian Broadcat Corporation? nt

nt

[Newsjock]

15. Hey, don't go knockin' my GSN! :P

Just think of all the Americans who couldn't spell any five-letter words if it weren't for Lingo!

:) :)

[ConfuZed]

14. When will us charter customers get to see it?

[Eric J in MN]

20. What is a charter customer? nt

nt

[ConfuZed]

21. Charter Communications

Its a cable company

[JackDragna]

18. To hell with Al Gore..

..and every other DINO-sponsored, Republican-capitulating piece of garbage foisted on America, as if it really represented liberal values.

[ConfuZed]

22. What did Al Gore ever do to you to make you say such a thing?

[ailsagirl]

23. Ummm... have a little problem with Gore, do you???

I don't know WHAT gave me that idea!!!