Current Lights Up a Second Web Portal
By Linda Haugsted -- Multichannel News, 9/23/2007 8:00:00 PM
Beverly Hills, Calif. — Current TV will launch a second Web portal on Oct. 15, according to network founders Joel Hyatt and Al Gore.
The new site will be in addition to the network’s Current.TV Web address, which features the network’s core user-generated content. Beyond that, however, the executives were coy about the actual content of the new site, to be located at www.current.com.
“Consider this a teaser,” said Hyatt. An announcement on the original network Web site isn’t much more informative: It promises a Web site influencing TV influencing a Web site.
The executives were still basking in the afterglow of their Emmy Award win Sept. 16. Two-year-old Current’s site beat out applications from Major League Baseball, Bravo, the Disney Channel and the BIAP Fantasy Football Television Tracker to win the award as the outstanding interactive-television service.
Gore said he thought the win would be good for business, noting he’d been told that two hours after the Sept. 16 ceremony, “Current TV” was one of the most searched terms on Google. Research shows that once viewers find Current, they stay with the channel, Gore said. The Emmy “validates our core vision,” the former vice president added.
Most television-related broadband ventures exist at the Internet/television boundary, repurposing traditional TV content as Internet fodder, Gore said. Current’s primary business reverses that flow, he said: It uses the power of the Internet to harness the creativity of individuals and bring it to the masses.
“The [television] industry’s future will be better served by embracing the model of Current TV,” he said. He added the site experienced thousands of new registrations in the 24 hours after the Emmy telecast.
Nielsen Media Research does not yet rate the network. The company considers the possibility of getting rated, but Current is more about how its programming resonates with viewers and produces impact for advertisers, executives said. The channel’s sponsorship model limits the number of ads per hour, in order to reduce clutter. According to a customized study for Current conducted by Culver City, Clif.-based global research and consulting firm OTX, 32% of Current’s viewers said they bought a product they saw on the channel.
Hyatt and Gore also said they are happy with the growth of their network, now in 51 million cable and satellite homes. Of those, 17 million were acquired when Current bought and reformatted Newsworld International; another 11 million are international subscribers in the United Kingdom, serviced through deals with British Sky Broadcasting and Virgin Media. Hyatt said other international deals could be announced within two weeks.
