Al Gore to launch DIY television in Britain

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Al Gore is to launch a revolutionary new 24-hour TV channel in Britain which he claims will "democratise" the medium by allowing viewers to create the programmes.

Current TV - described as the televisual equivalent of the iPod shuffle - is already a huge hit in the US, where it reaches more than 30 million homes.

In a joint venture with Sky, the channel will air in Britain from next spring, ahead of a planned roll-out worldwide. Gore, the former US vicepresident, told Evening Standard: "Television-is the most important medium of our age and I think it is vital to democratise it. The internet is very exciting but TV is still the dominant medium for the conversation of democracy. But it's still very much a one-way conversation. Current TV harnesses the energy and excitement of the internet to enable viewers to create their own content." It is the first TV network created "by, for and with" a young audience, largely aged 16 to 34.

Viewers will be able to film their own factual videos - spanning technology, fashion, music, the environment, relationships, politics, finance and parenting - and submit them to the Current TV website.

A voting system will allow other viewers to pick the films to be screened - while network producers will also select outstanding videos. Regular contributors will be paid. Gore added: "All around the world there has been this desire on the part of people who watch TV as their principal source of information but, other than to select or change the channel, have no real input."

He added: "Until now, the notion of viewer participation has been limited to sending a tape to America's Funniest Home Videos, calling an interview show, taking part in an instant poll or voting someone off an island. We're creating a powerful new brand of television that doesn't treat audiences as merely viewers, but as collaborators."

Gore insisted that quality control was not an issue. He said: "We have found that when you allow the viewers to participate in helping to choose what goes on the channel you actually get a very balanced, fair and fascinating representation of different points of view. Where there is a problem is when there is only one small group doing the programming, as with traditional TV."

He said films screened on the US channel ranged from videos shot in the slums of Nairobi to others filmed by soldiers in Iraq, comic book fans in San Diego, bodybuilders in Afghanistan and one viewer's experience of using a boat to help victims of Hurricane Katrina.

BSkyB chief executive James Murdoch said the channel would reach one in three UK homes.

He added: "When we heard about Current we really loved that notion of a dialogue and a community bringing a whole generation of people who are disempowered by oneway broadcast medium."

Current TV and Sky are to set up a UK headquarters and appoint British presenters to provide a link between programmes and to front news bulletins.

In another revolutionary step, the news will be a collaboration with Google, where the lead items are dictated by the topics internet users search for most on any day.

Another innovation in the US version is "viewer generated" adverts. The network is sponsored by highprofile businesses, including Gap, Levi, L'Oreal, Sony Ericsson and Toyota. Viewers create their own adverts to promote the brands.

Current TV, launched in the US last summer as the brainchild of Mr Gore and entrepreneur Joel Hyatt, now sees nearly a third of its content created by viewers - and will rise to 50 per cent.

Each film - or " pod" - is between three and eight minutes long. Current TV also offers viewers free tutorials in film-making, journalism and storytelling, with contributors in the US including Sean Penn and Dave Eggers.

 

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