Al Gore may not be the father of the Internet as he once famously claimed, but he can claim parentage of what seems to be one of the worst ‘Net-related ideas to come down the pike.
Gore’s new cable TV network, Current TV, launches today and strives to be “the television home page for the Internet generation.” Al, baby, here’s your problem: If you do anything for “the Internet generation” it should be done *on the Internet.*
Current content will be broken up into “pods,” 2- to 7-minute long segments “covering topics like jobs, technology, spirituality and current events.” Previews made available to the press showed pods featuring a profile of a hang glider and a piece on working in a fish market. Yeah, that screams “Internet generation.”
Even better, Gore wants Current to be super interactive and “They want viewers to contribute much of the network’s content now that quality video equipment is widely available,” writes the AP. Also, they’ll provide news updates every half-hour “using data from Google on news stories most frequently searched for on the Web.” We do like their concept of off-loading work onto viewers…
The AP says Current will be available to 20 million households (out of 110 million nationally) right off the bat. The Current site has a handy link where you can check and see if you get the network. You type in your zip code and then choose your cable provider. That should return a yes or no, right? Heh! Current *then* requires your name, address, birth date and e-mail address before you find out. Way to tee off the ‘Net generation right off the bat, audience development nerds.
Via My Way News
