It’s hard to walk through a college campus or any place where the marketers’ coveted 18-34 age demographic congregate and not see iPod music players. Now, a new television network plans to translate iPod’s concept of randomly shuffled chunks of entertainment onto the TV screen.
Former Vice President Al Gore co-founded the network called Current, which is set to be the first national network “created for, by and with an 18-34 year-old audience,” according to a press release.
Beginning Aug. 1, Current will broadcast to nearly 20 million subscriber households in the United States via DirecTV’s basic digital tier, Time Warner Cable’s basic digital tier and Comcast systems in key markets. In contrast to the half-hour blocks of traditional TV shows, the network’s 24-hour programming will run in
15-second to five-minute segments, referred to as “pods,” featuring a variety of topics. The mix will be
25 percent news, 30 percent information, 20 percent social, 20 percent escape, and 5 percent wild card.
“Novelty attracts attention. We know this,” University psychology professor Michael Anderson said. He added that people seeing something continuously tend to get used to it and start tuning it out.
A key element of Current’s programming will be viewer input. According to the press release, Current will offer a free online training program through its Web site, www.current.tv, so that anyone with a digital video camera and computer can learn how to make his or her own video segments.
Viewers will then be able to access, via Current’s Web site, the same list of assignments that Current’s in-house production team works on. After agreeing to take on a story, amateur reporters can upload their video segments onto the Web site, where fellow viewers and collaborators can review submissions and vote their favorites onto the air. As of April 13, the site had already received 366 uploads from 235 people.
One of the network’s aims is to give young adults the same flexibility in television programming that they are accustomed to having on the Internet. A 2004 study by the Online Publishers Association found that 46 percent of
18 to 34 year olds are more likely to log on to the Internet compared to 35 percent who prefer to watch TV.
“The Internet opened a floodgate for young people whose passions are finally being heard, but TV hasn’t followed suit,” Gore said in the press release. “Young adults have a powerful voice, but you can’t hear that voice on television yet.”
Gore said Current aims to give those who crave the empowerment of the Web the same opportunity for expression on television.
“We want to transform the television medium itself, giving a national platform to those who are hungry to help create the TV they want to watch,” he said in the release.
The network will maintain connections to the Internet and has a partnership with Google. “Google Current,” a news feature that will run every half hour, will have news reports based on whatever the most popular Google search is at the moment.
Some wonder what the impact of the short program segments might be.
“It could potentially trivialize important issues and not give people the coverage they want to make informed decisions,” Anderson said. “That’s just my opinion, but if it’s just for entertainment, why not?”

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