Paul Wilczynski's Observations

Current TV

A week or so ago, I ran across an article about a cable network Al Gore has invested in called Current TV. It's about 2 years old now.

I think it's absolutely fascinatingly different from anything else on the tube. It appears their entire programming is divided into "pods" that average 3-10 minutes in length. They can be on a variety of subjects ... the ones I've seen included videos on hot spots in the world, individual sports ("crack climbing"), and the Los Angeles Rodeo , the largest gay rodeo in the country.

An increasing amount of their programming (they say it's about 1/3 now) is submitted by viewers. When you look at the cable descriptions of what's on during each 1/2 hour segment, the segments have names, but they don't appear to have anything to do with the content that's being broadcast. It seems to be pretty youth-oriented - most of the people who produced and narrated the pod looked to be in their 20s.

I had always thought that the channels that cable networks appear on varied by town, but apparently that's not true anymore. Current TV appears on: DIRECTV (366), Dish Network (196). Comcast (107),AT&T U-verse (189), and Time Warner (local).

Definitely check it out.

posted by Paul Wilczynski @ 3:46 PM