Re: News World International going?

That's true. The new owners are turning it into a news channel for young adults. Wave bye-bye to "The National." :-(

I found the article below in another group. It might be interesting to watch this new channel, for like say about 15 minutes. I was so afraid we would be left with nothing now but the gutter press news channels, fox, msnbc, etc.

==========================================================


from the wall street journal

Gore Group to Start Cable Channel as Youth Forum
By JOE FLINT

A cable channel recently acquired by an investment group led by Al
Gore is to relaunch Aug. 1 under the name Current, hoping to generate
much of its content from viewers.

The former vice president and his partners, including entrepreneur
Joel Hyatt, are taking an unconventional approach to TV programming in
hopes of attracting viewers aged 18 to 34. That demographic, heavily
sought by advertisers, has become difficult for TV networks and
newspapers to reach.

Messrs. Gore and Hyatt say they hope young people will use the channel
as a forum to express their opinions on news and current events.
Viewers will be invited to submit short films, documentaries and home
videos to be aired on the channel. Mr. Gore's group also has struck a
deal with Google Inc. to use information from Google in its
programming.

Now called Newsworld International, the channel was acquired from
Vivendi Universal SA last year for about $70 million. Mr. Gore is
chairman of the investment group, while Mr. Hyatt is chief executive.
The two will unveil their plans for the channel today at a
cable-industry convention in San Francisco.

In an interview Friday, Mr. Gore said the goal of Current is to
connect "the Internet generation with television in a brand new way."
Its Web site will be a key part of its service, listing topics on
which it wants material, such as reviews of movies, CDs or videogames;
items on social trends; and advocacy journalism. Current will pay $250
for videos it airs.

A segment called "Google Current" will report on what topics are
generating the most interest on the Web, using Google as its source.
Google doesn't do its own reporting, but will rank the topics, based
on which subjects generate the most search queries. A Google spokesman
confirmed it struck an agreement with Mr. Gore's group.

Current will provide a fair amount of its own programming, at least
initially, said programming chief David Neuman, a veteran television
executive who most recently was a consultant for Time Warner Inc.'s
CNN. Mr. Neuman said the channel has hired hosts for different
segments. While Current primarily will be a news and information
channel, he described it as closer to MTV and VH1 than Fox News and
MSNBC.

Current also has hired Anne Kallin Zehren, a former publisher of Teen
People, as president of sales and marketing. She says the traditional
television model is "a bunch of executives, probably a lot older,
dictating what they think they should be watching." Current, she says,
will listen to what young adults say they want to watch.

Broadening the channel's distribution is likely to be a top priority.
Newsworld, which now carries an assortment of international newscasts,
is available on satellite TV and cable-TV services in about 20 million
homes. Mr. Gore's group hopes to boost its distribution to 50 million
homes in five years. In comparison, channels such as CNN and MTV are
available in 80 million to 90 million homes.

Mr. Hyatt said the channel has commitments from current distributors,
which include DirecTV Group Inc., Comcast Corp. and Time Warner, and
will try to negotiate carriage deals with other cable and satellite
operators. Increasingly, cable operators are using their channel
capacity for video-on-demand services.

-- Kevin Delaney contributed to this article

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