TV squared

Al Gore was in London this morning to launch the British and Irish version of Current TV, the television network he helped found in America in 2005 on which all the programmes are short and a lot of them are made by its viewers. (Watch a video interview here)

Taking off his environmental hat, putting down his Oscar, his ethical fund manager's briefcase and removing his will-he, won't-he, please-do-something presidential candidate's tie, Mr Gore was doing his bit for the "democratising of television".

The idea of Current TV is that, alongside short, non-fiction films made by its own reporting staff, the channel is full to bursting with three to eight-minute videos made by its viewers. (The speakers at today's press conference used the word "compelling" six times).

These are first put on the channel's website, where internet browsers choose their favourites, which are then broadcast. These "pods", as they are known, make up a third of the channel's content. Every half an hour, the channel delivers its version of the news: a rolling account of what British internet users are searching for on Google. The channel will be available to Sky and Virgin media subscribers.

All this, according Mr Gore, is a big deal. "This is not going to be a political or an ideological channel in any way," the former Democratic presidential candidate said. "We like to think it's far more revolutionary than that."

He compared the power of "two-way" television — Current TV also calls it Viewer Created Content or VC² — to the radical possibilities of the printing press: the creation of public conversation, the formation of democracies, a way to break the mega-conglomerates control of broadcasting. "This comes out of a vision... to democratise the media of television and open it up to individual voices to people can join the global conversation," Mr Gore said. "This is television for the internet generation."

So far, so interesting (so, also, a little blog, a little YouTube, but anyway). But what's going to be on it?

The highlight reel of "pods" that we saw included: a short, moany film by one of Current TV's reporters about how he had lost touch with his Britishness: "There is a big gaping hole in my heart where Blighty used to reside"; an interview with some Kenyan prostitutes in a Nairobi slum: "If I get scared of Aids, what will my children eat?"; and a piece about a smartly-spoken young man in a sports car who drives around London by night planting flowers and trees, "a guerrilla gardener".

Then there was a film by Bono in which he goofed about with his U2 guitarist.

A Day in the Life of the Edge opens with a cheeky Bono coming into the Edge's room while he is sleeping. "Ooohh," says a drowsy Edge. "This could be interesting," mutters Bono, walking over to the curtains and tearing them open. "Oooh," says the Edge. "Miami Beach," says Bono.

We also got a sample of Current TV's news, that snapshot of what Britain and Ireland are looking for the internet, an X-ray scan of our brains according to Mr Gore. And what is in our brains this Monday morning? Tamer Hassan. Yes, Tamer Hassan. For those who you don't know, he's on The Bill. Also in the top ten news items: Rosebay Willowherb, a herbal skin remedy, and in fifth place, Helen Chamberlain, a Sky sports presenter. Helen Chamberlain naked, was number six. We can't believe that Al Gore finds this interesting.

According David Neuman, Current TV's president of programming, this ever-rushing mixture of short films made by digital youngsters is perfect for people who are likely to be on their laptop and mobile phone and watching television all at the same time, the "two and three screen experience", as he described it.

"We're told over and over by our audience that it's addictive," he said. "People start to snack on it and then they get up three hours later." Sounds like TV.

Comments

[PETE NORTH]

Showing us how green he really is, hmm? Can you think of any endeavour more wasteful of energy and consumptive of resources without providing a useful recyclable product than a TV station?
Utter hypocrite, this Al Gore. Just further persuades me that his film should have been titled "How I Jumped on the Bandwagon to Make $$$ After Politics", and that 90% of the world is being duped into spending time and money to combat an imaginary problem for which there is no hard evidence by unscrupulous people like him...

[Desmond Taylor]

How this charlatan became St Al the Green is one of the Universe's Mysteries. How he conned Hollywood is obvious-they are all nuts. Al's comment, 40,000 species die each year. Plagiarised from 'A Sinking Ark', Discredited.Actual species gone since 1600 AD, about 1,000. German Envo Minister is up to 54,750 per year. Do I hear any more.? Al's previous TV show sank so fast the crew could'nt even get to the lifeboats. Guess who did not put any of his money into it? I am working on a 12 step plan to help all of the people who go for this fraud. Or, could it all be beamed from the Mother Ship? Must leave to put my foil hat on.