Current

I have recently started watching Al Gore's Current TV, a cable network that features viewer created content. Current makes no apologies for its obvious appeal to Gen-Whatever politics and attention spans. The basis of Current's content are "Pods," short (3-7 minute) video packages. Pods deal with everything from fashion and music to international politics and they are generally created by viewers, though some are created by in-house producers.

Overall I have been impressed by Current. The viewer created content provides an interesting prospective that you do not get from most other media outlets. While the Pods are often repeated they are not very long, so you don't feel like you're watching a rerun. Also, the hourly news updates and interesting "Google trends" updates (based on one of my favorite timewasters, www.google.com/trends) helps keep the overall feel of the programming fresh.

The interactivity provided through the station's website (www.current.com) provides an interesting opportunity for viewers to get involved with the station's content. Users of the site are able to upload news stories that they have found on the internet. Other users are then given the opportunity to vote stories up or down a master list. Every few hours, the story at the top of the list of covered on the station, aling with a few comments that have been left on the story's response board. Surprisingly, the fact that this is all read by a computer generated voice is not at all unsettling.

Overall, I would say that Current is successful in its attempt to be "the first national TV network created by, for and with an 18-34 year-old audience." They achieve this without giving you the the feeling that a bunch of 50+ TV execs are pulling the strings. If anything, I would like to see the station drop more of its already loose structure. It would be interesting to see, mixed in along with the Pods, a montage of art and music.