Current TV is a media company led by former U.S. Vice President Al Gore and businessman *Joel Hyatt. The Comcast Corporation owns a ten percent stake of Current’s parent company, Current Media LLC.
*Joel Z. Hyatt (born Joel Hyatt Zylberberg, 1950) is a prominent businessman and former attorney and American politician of the Democratic party. He is the founder of Hyatt Legal Services, and was featured in the law firm’s television commercials speaking the slogan, “I’m Joel Hyatt and you have my word on it.”
Hyatt co-founded Hyatt Legal Services in 1977 as a low-cost legal service and later founded Hyatt Legal Plans, which became the country’s largest provider of employer-sponsored group legal services. Hyatt Legal Plans was acquired by MetLife in 1997.
Hyatt was a founding member of the U.S. Senate Democratic Leadership Circle and was a member of that group from 1981 to 1986. He was the Democratic National Committee’s assistant treasurer from 1981 to 1983.
He is the son-in-law of former U.S. Sen. Howard Metzenbaum
Hyatt served as National Finance Chair for the Democratic party in 2000, and is a business partner of former U.S. Vice President Albert A. Gore Jr. In 2004, Hyatt and Gore purchased Newsworld International, a cable news channel, programmed by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, which aired news programming from around the world. On August 1, 2005, Gore and Hyatt relaunched the network as Current TV, a young adult-programmed news and information service which pioneered the concept of user generated content on cable TV.
On January 31, 2007, Current TV launched on Dish Network.
On 28 January 2009 Current Media Inc, revealed it intended to launch an IPO on the NASDAQ to raise $100m (£67m), but it told US regulators over Easter that it was scrapping the plan due to “current market conditions.” The company added that no securities had been sold and all activity regarding the proposed public offering had been “discontinued”.
In July 2009, Current TV, because of financial reasons and the failed IPO abandoned, did a series of changes. CEO Joel Hyatt resigned to a new Vice President position and was replaced by Mark Rosenthal, the former COO and president of MTV Networks, with a plan to reform Current TV to more traditional programing. The Huffington Post’s Lisa Derrick predicted that Current TV would undergo a transformation similar to MTV’s transformation, during Mark Rosenthal 1990s tenure at MTV, from MTV’s multi-minute music video format to longer 30 minute/1 hour programing. Ultimately its assorted pod format was discontinued in lieu of traditional 30 minute block programing. Some elements of the pod format survive inside the themed 30 minute programing. In July 2009, 80 in house staff were laid off, about 25% of Current’s staff, and plans were announced to air licensed TV series and films and other content that is not produced by Current in-house or by the VC2 system. Hollywood Reporter’s Andrew Wallenstein predicts Current will make its targeted demographic a decade older from early 20s to early 30s, and add more less-serious entertainment programing to its then mostly news and reality/documentary format.
In late 2009, after the announcement of the Comcast-NBC merger, Comcast Corporation submitted a filing to the US Securities and Exchange Commission that revealed it owns a ten percent stake of Current Media LLC.
Current TV also gives viewers a chance to win $1000 for making a VCAM advertisement.
On February 7, 2011, it was reported that former MSNBC host Keith Olbermann signed a deal with Current TV.
******
HostsAdam Yamaguchi – Vanguard Correspondent
Amaya Brecher – former Current TV employee and now co-hosts Cosmic Sutra and Stargazing on Karma Air. Previously on Real World Hawaii.
Anthony Marshall
Angela Sun
Anne Foy
Ben Hoffman
Brett Erlich – Campaign Update, Viral Video Film School, Co-host of the Rotten Tomatoes Show
Bryan Safi
Christof Putzel – Vanguard Correspondent
Conor Knighton – InfoMania
Crystal Fambrini
Donna Ruko
Douglas Caballero
Elizabeth Chambers
Ellen Fox – Co-host of the Rotten Tomatoes Show
Gotham Chopra
Graeme Smith
Jael de Pardo
Jason Silva (of “Max and Jason” fame)
Joe Hanson – Joe Gets, What’s Wrong With; no longer a part of Current TV
Johnny Bell
Julia Hardy
Justin Gunn
Kaj Larsen – Vanguard Correspondent
Kinga Philipps
Jared Leto
Laura Ling – Vanguard Correspondent; formerly imprisoned by North Korea
Layla Kayleigh – No longer a part of Current TV. She was initially hired as a host, but was terminated before the network went to air for doing a photo shoot with the magazine Maxim. She hosted a segment called the “The Feed” on G4’s Attack of the Show.
Mariana van Zeller – Vanguard Correspondent
Max Lugavere (of “Max and Jason” fame)
Michelle Lombardo
Milo McCabe
Nick Carter – a.k.a MURS, an underground hip-hop artist
Nzinga Blake
Rawley Valverde
Rowly Dennis
Sarah Haskins
Scott Logan (TV Presenter and Actor)
Sergio Cilli
Shauntay Hinton – former Current TV employee and now hosts on the Fine Living Channel
Zara Martin (TV Presenter and Actress)