Gore close to cable buy

[Snellius]

Call him Al Gore, media baron.
The former vice president is close to striking a $70 million deal to acquire Newsworld International, a tiny cable network owned by French media giant Vivendi Universal, media sources said.

Gore and his backers want to turn the digital channel into a liberal-leaning network. His partners include ex-Democratic fund-raiser Joel Hyatt and media investment banker Steve Rattner, who's said to be lining up financing.

http://www.nydailynews.com/business/story/122270p-109917c.html

[The Backlash Cometh]

1. Very interesting.

I look forward to seeing what develops. Hope they don't make the same mistake as FoxNews and get too ideological.

[hlthe2b]

5. Yes, I want balanced and TRUE comprehensive news coverage...

not propaganda, right or left...

[nannygoat]

2. Let's hope he can do for cable what he did for

the Internet! Thanks, Pres. Gore!

[Q]

4. Great news...

...we could use SOME liberal media to balance out the equation.

[Cha]

26. Yeah they don't need to Lie and snuff out the truth like fauxsux....

Just telling the truth would just the right amount of Progressiveness!

[DemCam]

36. Long term

rather than short term view. Pretty amazing, really. He's gone back to his first love...journalism...and I for one am so proud of him.

Best of luck on this venture. May you save us all.

[hlthe2b]

3. Super! We might finally get our network...

George Soros should chip in too, given his determination to oust the Bushistas....?

Go, Gore!

[Vikingking66]

12. Soros is into other projects

In addition to a 75 million anti-Bush fund,
he's also endowed a new liberal think-tank,
the American Majority Institute.

[Cocoa]

6. lol, I read "guy" not "buy"

:-)

[liberalnurse]

7. A fun-fact here...

Joel Hyatt, an Ohio lawyer, is married to Retired Ohio Senator, Howard Metzenbaum's daughter. Howard Metzenbaum endores Howard Dean.

Will Dean TV expand?

[Cha]

28. That Is a Fun Fact, LN! Thank you!

Dean could use a break with the National scene..since I've been getting the sense that Dean is trying to be painted in a certain light to make sure he doesn't get the nomination. :tinfoilhat:

[JPace]

8. You Go Gore.....

the more liberal it is the better I am going
to like it. We need this to counter balance
all the right wing networks.

Later they can launch a middle of the road
network.

[w4rma]

9. This is *great* news! (n/t)

[dennis4868]

10. This seems like good news but.....

if all it is going to be is a liberal newws metwork and not report and analyze the news objectively like MSNBC and FOX than what good is it? I want a truly Fair and Balances news station! I am a liberal but want objective news reporting.

[Trajan]

18. With Fox ....

You get yer Nazi perspective ....

With CNN and MSNBC: You get yer vichy style perspective: News offered with a concerned eye towards the Nazis at Fox ....

With GORE TV: .... you get liberal .....

THAT is your balance .....

If you want THAT (Fox) kind of balance: .. go to Fox ......

I swear: ..... someone is going to try to make me wear George Bush Bloomers one day .... JUST for the sake of 'balance', and Im gonna come unglued .....

Liberals have EVERY right to provide news from a HEAVILY biased liberal perspective .....

It is THAT FACT that brings 'balance' to media: .. they would be a COUNTERWEIGHT against Fox ......

[Cha]

29. Si Si! Es La Verdad!

Yes Yes! It's the Truth! :7

[ILeft]

35. What some consider "liberal" seems to me to be the "center"

The Right Wing Extremists have managed to fool many people into thinking that the far right is really the "center"

...and that losing freedom is freedom, hate is compassion, war is peace, bankrupting the country is good for the country, supporting an arguably treasonous, unelected, pretender to the Presidency is actually the most patriotic thing an American can do... and on and on.

I think a "liberal" news network would have a fairly conservative perspective, aligned with the most traditional American values and beliefs.

[javadu]

40. I Once Shared Your Point of View . . . Let me explain why I changed

I must admit it (sheepishly and may get insulted for this) ---- I like Fox News!!!! I don't agree with hardly ANYTHING that is ever said on that station, but at least they are ABOUT SOMETHING. The other day, Fox News had a group of people talking about some important legislation (sorry I can not remember the details). It was all a right wing take on the legislation and made me furious. However, Larry King was interviewing Tammy Faye Baker on CNN. I turned back to Fox and became more informed about the what was going on. Most of the other news outlets are boring. With FOX, you get a perspective, albeit a biased one, and it is not boring.

Second (I am on the fence on this one), I am philosophically beginning to question whether or not ANY news program can be "objective," "fair," "balanced," or any other term that implies there is no bias in the reporting. Can that EVER happen??? I don't think it can no matter how much effort was put into it.

The ATTEMPT to make news "objective" results in boring, bland, and uninteresting news. Thus, FOX news is killing everyone else in the ratings game. What people don't get is that it is not conservatism that makes Fox news rate so highly ----- it is that they have something to say. A liberal news network with something to say will be just as succesful.

[smallprint]

42. the myth of objectivity

i find that fox will cover things that cnn and msgop won't even if they do it in a more obviously biased way... the key word here is "obvious"... fox's propaganda is over the top, which sometimes makes it less effective than the "smooth" propaganda of the other networks.

i strongly recommend that you rent the documentary "manufacturing consent" from your local library or alternative video store-- it explains a lot about how our media actually works.

[scottxyz]

48. Who said it wouldn't be fair and balanced?

Right now, the way most media is so right-wing and corporate, anything fair and balanced would be further left of what we have now.

But there's nothing wrong with that. Give me some facts on TV for a change, and I might go back to watching it. Give me both sides of the stories instead of the right-wing spin machine.

Of course, the right wing will try to spin this new channel as being somehow "biased". For them, anyone left of Genghis Khan would be a flaming liberal.

[Sperk]

11. Al Gore INVENTS the liberal media!

:bounce: just add it to the long list of Gore's accomplishments!
I love that man!

[Cha]

30. Gore is Cutting Edge! Just a little too cutting edge to be our

President, evidently! Great things in store for Gore and our Country! Woo freakin'Hoo! :D

[Rose Siding]

13. After what the media did to him...

and US, this is poetic. He is a visionary who recognized this as *our* flat out need.

[Cha]

31. That's right, party_line! Ya know I hadn't even made that

connect yet! Duh! Perfect Poetic Ironic Justice! :yourock:

[Snellius]

14. Here's a another background article:

Gore Ogles Cable in Vivendi Stable as His Media Buy
by Joe Hagan

Will the proposed merger of NBC and Vivendi Universal Entertainment, announced on Tuesday, Sept. 2, benefit the political-counterprogramming media dream of Al Gore?

The Observer has learned that the former Vice President and his business partner, the entrepreneur and former Democratic fund-raiser Joel Hyatt—who both have been quietly sussing out the creation of a cable-TV network for the last year—called a meeting with executives of Universal Television Group early this summer to discuss buying Newsworld International, a tiny cable news channel owned by Universal.
...
Until now, NWI has been a snoozy little digital channel that exists in about 20 million homes, pumping out "foreign newscasts originally broadcast in countries such as Germany, Japan, Canada and the European Community"—most of them from CBC, the Canadian Broadcasting Company.

Theoretically, Mr. Gore and Co. could gut the channel for its bandwidth and reformat it for their own purposes. Interestingly, a source familiar with the situation said that Barry Diller, who sold the property to Universal, originally planned to transform NWI into something else himself—a hipper, edgier news channel that could be an non-ideological answer to Fox News. The plan never got off the ground, according to a source.

http://www.observer.com/pages/story.asp?ID=7845

[bushisanidiot]

15. I Can't Wait Til They're Up And Running

It will truly expose how right leaning all the other networks are, not just the (obvious) Faux News.

[FlaGranny]

22. And maybe we'd get to see a news conference

called by a Democrat. Wouldn't that be nice?

[RedEarth]

16. I sure hope this goes through

I too would like to see a true "fair and balanced" network, however, I also feel the country needs numerous national liberal media outlets to counter the garbage that is currently on radio and tv. In my local market(Oklahoma City), every AM radio talk show is conservative. Clear channel and another group control those stations, so all we get is rush, hannity, o'really and other right wing liars. The control of the media by the hard right is simlar to the way dictators form public thought, and it is imperative progressives have an outlet to convey their message.

[FlaGranny]

23. CNN International is

pretty good. It is more like the original CNN. If you can get it. It is on DirecTV.

[Ernesto]

17. THIS WILL be interesting!

Stand by for all "usual suspect" GOP attack dogs to start bleating. They will start the discrediting campaign at once..... What jokes will Leno use? Moonbeam Radio? At any rate, thank you Pres. Gore! Now, give em hell Al!

[CANDO]

19. Isn't that the channel on Directv #366?

I'll have to check on that the next time the tube is on.

[FlaGranny]

20. Yes, I think that's the channel.

It is my preferred news channel. Really "fair and balanced."

[papau]

24. Canada'a CBC , BBC World, and IN share the channel

n/t

[Cha]

33. Sounds like I might have to get an addition to my channels

somehow. I live in an apartment so can't get satelite..I hope I would be able to get it on cable, too! :)

[Nottingham]

21. Alleluia! Is Gore not an angel!

:bounce: I'm looking for a Network! that doesn't spill junk!

[Cha]

25. So that is different than "anshellmedia"! Sounds like there

will be @ least two "Liberal" networks goin' on! WooHoo! Couldn't happen a minute too soon!

http://www.anshellmedia.org

But this one will be "cableTV"! :)

[Isere]

27. This is excellent!

Break out the champagne! I wanted Gore to run for president, but this is the next best thing he could do! Tally-ho! The Fox hunt begins!

[Khephra]

32. We already get NWI

:bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

[Cha]

34. Good for you, Khep! Would I be able to get this new channel

off of cable? Can't get a satelite for about 3 years when I move back to Hawaii!

[fertilizeonarbusto]

37. WOOOOO-HOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!

Bless you, Al, I hope this works! Need a copy writer?
And wouldn't it be great to hire the Big Dog as Special Commentator and Guest Lambaster of Rethugs? ;-)

[goforit]

38. Viva el Presidente verdad!!!!!!........Go Gore!!!!!

Go to the heart of the matter!!!!

:bounce:

[schultzee]

39. Please, please let this happen!

We need a network that tells the truth.

[AndyTiedye]

41. Freedom of the Press Means Owning One

Thomas Jefferson

[frank frankly]

43. great news

the tide has turned!

[Red_Storm]

44. What's going to happen with .........

all the shows that are on NWI like Foreign Assignment, Up Close, Hot Type, Special Assignment, European Journal, Play, etc.... are they history ? if so, this is really bad news for people who are used to watching all those great programs.........

[Copperred]

45. Contact Al Gore?

How would one contact Al Gore?

Phone contact details?

Thank you.
Robert
[e-mail]

[rocktivity]

46. When?

Will it be here in time to to be of any use for Election 2004?


rocknation

[Loyal]

47. Question:

If this deal goes through, will I be able to get this on Time Warner Cable, do you think? :D I'm in Upstate NY.

[Ivory_Tower]

49. Remember

When Fox News first came out, its ratings were so low that analysts said it would have been cheaper for advertisers to just call each viewer on the phone.

Look at them now.

So, if this really happens, and it doesn't debut as the top-rated news network, don't despair and just remember that it will only take a little time.

I guess this doesn't really affect me (no TV), but who knows, maybe I'll reconsider my TV stance if this new network is really a news network (and not ideological propaganda). Or maybe not -- it's still TV, after all. :)

[Dr Fate]

50. Al- a great guy!

Go AL!!!

[are_we_united_yet]

51. President Gore,

YOUTHEMAN!