Current TV

Current TV is a media company led by former U.S. Vice President Al Gore and businessman Joel Hyatt. The Comcast Corporation currently owns a ten percent stake of Current's parent company, Current Media LLC. The Current cable television network went on the air in the US at midnight EDT 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 in the UK and Ireland and on Virgin Media in the UK. A third network, operated in Italy started its operation February 8, 2008, for SKY Italia subscribers and later for 3 subscribers. Current TV features "pods," or short programs, of which a portion are created by viewers and users. An experimental Canadian show from CBC called ZeD was the first programmed broadcast of user-generated video content. 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 American 24-hour network based around viewer-created content, which it dubs VC. Users (called VC Producers) contribute three-to-seven-minute "pods", which are on a variety of subject matter. The content is filtered by registered users, on Current's website through a voting process, but pods are ultimately approved or disapproved by Current's on-air programming department, VC makes up a portion of the material 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 VC. The channel has exclusive broadcast rights for all media in perpetuity on viewer-submitted pods, and in some cases outright ownership of the pod and its raw footage, although this is negotiated on a pod by pod basis. Along with a plethora of VC content, Current also produces a variety of programs internally, including: infoMania is a weekly produced half-hour show which takes a satirical look into the world of politics and other pop culture news; similar to The Soup and The Daily Show. Vanguard is Current's in-house journalism department, consisting of a team of young producers and correspondents who specialize in enterprising reporting on global issues. In addition to contributing original pods to Current's daily shuffle, Vanguard airs a weekly half-hour program of longer and more in depth pieces. The Rotten Tomatoes Show is a collaboration between Current and the Rotten Tomatoes website. It is hosted by Ellen Fox and Brett Erlich and presents a mix of reviews by professional critics and comedians, as well as web-cam reviews sent in by Current users. Users who have their review chosen for the show win $100. SuperNews!, an animated program which started out as a pod based on current events, and is now a full half-hour program. Hosts on Current TV appear in a set based on The Chemosphere, built by American architect John Lautner in 1960. Current recently launched Current:News, an hourly news broadcast with news stories submitted and voted for by its online community. Current TV also gives viewers a chance to win $1000 for making a VCAM advertisement.