Now here’s a new reason why it’ll be easier than ever to have TV put you to sleep: Al Gore is starting a TV network.
This is not a belated April Fool’s post.
A film titled Bedtime For Bonzo would be a good fit for what it may well do to viewers, if its founder’s personality influences it. But we’ve heard somewhere that that film has a Republican connnection… Here are some details about AL TV:
SAN FRANCISCO, April 4 /PRNewswire/ — Offering a glimpse of the independent network first announced at last year’s National Cable & Telecommunications Association convention, former Vice President Al Gore and entrepreneur Joel Hyatt, joined by executives and on-air talent, revealed this morning that the name of the new venture, formerly known as INdTV, will be Current. The unveiling of the much-anticipated network’s positioning, logo and prototype programming reel took place at a press conference in Current’s San Francisco headquarters during NCTA ’05.
The first national network created by, for and with an 18-34 year-old audience, Current will offer 24 hours of programming in a unique, short-form content format when it premieres August 1. Current will invite audiences to move beyond their roles as viewers to become active collaborators, encouraging them to help shape the network’s content and fulfill its mission — to serve as a TV platform where the voices of young adults can be heard.
Well, if it’s going after an 18-34 year old audience there should be lots of shows dealing with sex. Attention Howard Stern: you may the TV jackpot yet. And Janet Jackson: they may offer you a weekly series “American Wardrobe Dysfunction.” MORE:
“The Internet opened a floodgate for young people whose passions are finally being heard, but TV hasn’t followed suit. Young adults have a powerful voice, but you can’t hear that voice on television … yet,” said Gore, who serves as the network’s chairman of the board. “We intend to change that with Current, giving those who crave the empowerment of the Web the same opportunity for expression on television. We want to transform the television medium itself, giving a national platform to those who are hungry to help create the TV they want to watch.”
I thought I heard young people’s voices on American Idol and MTV’s The Real World, or the F-word filled BET, but what do you expect from TMV who still watches Jack Benny DVDs? And this:
The participatory model of Current marks a giant leap in seven decades of television. “Until now, the notion of viewer participation has been limited to sending a tape to ‘America’s Funniest Home Videos,’ calling an interview show, taking part in an instant poll, or voting someone off an island,” added Gore. “We’re creating a powerful new brand of television that doesn’t treat audiences as merely viewers, but as collaborators.”
Promising a slate of programming that’s smart, fun and fearless (as a truly independent network), Current seeks to cater to the Internet generation’s need for choice and control. Reflective of its name, it will serve up the most current information on the people, places and happenings of interest to viewers 18-34, a demographic that no longer relates to traditional news.
WHAT? Are they insinuating CBS’s Bob Schieffer doesn’t appeal to young people???
IN ALL SERIOUSNESS: Gore’s intent is fine, but with a huge number of stations out there he’d better have some professional broadcasters helping him turn intent into a workeable business model. You can look at key cable networks and see how when they took off they were greatly impacted by the personalities of their key players: CNN by the flamboyant Ted Turner; Fox News by Roger Ailes. Who will Gore hire to turn the idea into reality QUICKLY — so it debuts and doesn’t get decimated by critics? Gore didn’t prove to be the most (ahem) scintillating personality on the stump (except that one time with Tipper). He’d better hire some good people.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.