Current TV (Gore's channel)

Keith Olbermann Gets Rejected by Another Employer?
By Matthew Sheffield | December 30, 2011 | 10:50 AM EST

As surely as the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, it seemed inevitable that moonbat cable news personality Keith Olbermann would soon do something to sour his relationship with his current employer, obscure cable channel Current TV. After all, he still remains the same man who famously spent days in the bathroom in fits of rage rather than report for work.

We don't know what that something was, but it appears that the former ESPN-MSNBC-Fox Sports-MSNBC anchor has managed to commit it for, as noted by New York Times media reporter Brian Stelter, Olbermann does not appear to be part of the channel's lineup to cover the Iowa caucuses or the New Hampshire primary election. Instead, viewers will be treated to performances by Current's usual stable of failed politicians and MSNBC rejects:

Keith Olbermann: Too Far Left for Gore's Current TV?
By Lachlan Markay | February 22, 2011 | 6:50 PM EST

Just how far left is MSNBC? According to the New York Post, Keith Olbermann's new employer, Current TV, suggested he "veer a little to the middle politically."

That's right: MSNBC's former prime time star was too far left for the writers and producers at Al Gore's television network. Says a lot about the true blue cable channel, doesn't it?

As Current TV Tops List of Least Watched Cable Channels, Reporter Claims 'Ratings Savior' Olbermann to the Rescue
By Kyle Drennen | February 16, 2011 | 1:30 PM EST

In Tuesday's Kansas City Star, reporter Aaron Barnhart revealed that Current TV, the cable channel launched in 2005 by Al Gore, would be the least missed, only managing to be viewed by 18,000 households in the fourth quarter of 2010. Also on the list of "Cable's Least Wanted" were the DIY network, ESPN Classic, Fox Soccer Channel, Logo, and Sleuth.

Despite such abysmal ratings for Current, Barnhart argued that the addition of former MSNBC Countdown host Keith Olbermann to the channel would turn things around: "The good news for Current is that it won’t be counting its audience in the high five figures, at least not when Olbermann is on the air." He later remarked: "Unlike Current, the rest of Cable’s Least Wanted don’t have a ratings savior waiting in the wings."

Nazi-Obsessed Olbermann Will Fit in Nicely at Gore's Current TV
By Lachlan Markay | February 9, 2011 | 6:41 PM EST

Given recent news that Al Gore personally recruited Keith Olbermann to join Current TV as its "Chief News Officer" (I don't know either), readers may be wondering: what value could the former vice presiodent have possibly seen in Olbermann?

Though we're not expecting confirmation from Current TV, here's one possibility: like Olbermann, Gore is a routine violator of Godwin's Law. Perhaps the former MSNBC host's penchant for Nazi comparisons impressed a man who, though he's an expert at comparing people with whom he disagrees to genocidal fascists, can't hold a candle to Olbermann's knee-jerk Nazi references.

Comic: 'Is Olbermann Sleeping His Way to the Bottom?'
By Noel Sheppard | February 9, 2011 | 9:49 AM EST

VH-1 comedian Don Jamieson on Tuesday took some humorous swipes at Keith Olbermann.

Appearing on HLN's "Joy Behar" show, Jamieson commented that Al Gore's Current TV was "harder to find than Osama bin Laden," and moments later asked, "You’re going to go from TV to the Internet? What is [Keith Olbermann] sleeping his way to the bottom?" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

Rush Limbaugh Advises Fox To Ignore Keith 'Olberdork' Now That He's Partnered With Gore
By Noel Sheppard | February 8, 2011 | 7:08 PM EST

Conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh on Tuesday gave some advice to Fox News about how to treat Keith Olbermann now that he's partnered with Al Gore's struggling cable network.

"Do not ever talk about what goes on over there and nobody will ever hear about it" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

Al Gore on Current TV's Newest Addition: 'Keith Olbermann Is A Gifted Thinker'
By Noel Sheppard | February 8, 2011 | 12:27 PM EST

The rumors about Keith Olbermann joining Al Gore's struggling television network came true Tuesday morning with the announcement that the former "Countdown" host was indeed moving to Current TV.

The press release contained comments from those involved that were nothing less than hysterical:

Olbermann Rumored to be Joining Gore's Struggling TV Network
By Noel Sheppard | February 7, 2011 | 9:59 PM EST

Keith Olbermann is rumored to be announcing Tuesday that he is joining Al Gore's struggling network Current TV.

The New York Times reported moments ago:

Al Gore's Current TV Is Struggling
By Tim Graham | June 27, 2010 | 10:53 PM EDT
Andrew Wallenstein at The Hollywood Reporter suggests more than Al Gore's marriage is crumbling. Gore's cable channel Current TV is facing a dramatic makeover with an injection of MTV executives. Wallenstein tried to sugarcoat the inconvenient truths:

For all the brilliance he has displayed grasping the meteorological dynamics governing the globe, Gore has miscalculated those of a slightly less complex world: the TV business. The radical ambitions he brought to the environment didn't pan out the same way in cable; the television will not be revolutionized.

Gore tried to sell off Current to his Google pals for half a billion dollars, but that didn't take. So they're taking the content away from small-d democracy and toward the persistent formula of other youth-culture channels, loaded with young-skewing documentaries and "reality" TV:

Post-Election News Business Layoffs Begin; Time and Current Lead the Charge
By Tom Blumer | November 12, 2008 | 12:04 AM EST

Well, they held out as long as the could. But now that the presidential election is over, layoffs in the news business have begun.

Newsosaur predicted as much on the Sunday before the election, and pointed to a major reason:

Public confidence in the mainstream media has been eroding for at least a decade.

The Pew Research Center for the People and the Press reported that only 19% of respondents trusted their local newspapers in 2006, as compared with 29% in 1998. In the same period, trust in national newspapers slid to 21% from 32%, broadcast news fell to 22% from 27% and cable news slipped to 25% from 37%. Confidence in the National Enquirer, however, doubled to 6%.

Job losses announced at Time Inc., which went through a significant shrinkage just two years ago, and Al Gore's Current Media are among the first in what will almost certainly be a long line of similar reports in the coming months.

Here, from Ad Week, is a capsule of what's going down at Time:

Gore's Money-losing Current TV to Go Public with $100M IPO
By Ken Shepherd | January 30, 2008 | 12:24 PM EST

From yesterday's Financial Times:

Current Media, the online media company co-founded by Al Gore, the former US vice-president, on Monday said it planned to file for an initial public offering that could see it raise up to $100m.

Of course, it’s never made a profit and the vast majority of its revenue comes from cable companies paying it for the privilege of carrying Current (emphasis mine).:

Time Lauds Al Gore, Planet-Rescuing 'Laptop-Wielding Ninja'
By Tim Graham | May 31, 2006 | 5:41 AM EDT

Just as last week's Dixie Chicks (ahem, with balls) cover story in Time magazine was expanding on an earlier plug in their Time 100 issue, in this week's editions, reporter Karen Tumulty expands on her earlier "movie star" plug for Al Gore. The headline for this four-page package is "Lights, Camera, Al Gore!" (Yes, an exclamation point.) And: "The ex-president is enjoying an unlikely heyday as a movie star.