Former Vice President Al Gore and other executives from Current TV visited New York Thursday and Friday to pitch their new cable channel, which launched at the end of August.
Gore, Current TV’s chairman, and CEO Joel Hyatt met with community leaders Friday, looking to gather support for the channel.
Current also handed out fliers containing contact information for executives of several distributors -- including Comcast Corp., DirecTV Inc., Cox Communications Inc. and EchoStar Communications Corp. -- which supporters could use to request that their cable or satellite services carry the network, which counts about 20 million subscribers.
Hyatt said about 30% of Current’s content comes from videos submitted by viewers. Current pays amateur video producers up to $1,000 per segment.
Gore led a Current “Take Back TV” rally in Central Park Thursday night, where he discussed how the Internet can democratize the video business. But Gore said cable and satellite distribution will still be crucial for media companies to succeed for the foreseeable future.
“The Internet is a formidable new medium of communication, but it is important to note that it still doesn’t hold a candle to television,” Gore said in his speech Thursday night.
