Gore Plans To Launch New Cable TV Network
Programs to Be Aimed At Younger Audiences
By Christopher Stern
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 5, 2004; Page E01
NEW ORLEANS, May 4 -- Former Vice President Al Gore, once one of cable television's most ardent critics, stopped by the industry's annual convention on Tuesday to announce he was launching a new network of his own, designed to appeal to younger audiences.
Gore, along with business partner Joel Hyatt, said the two had acquired Newsworld International from Vivendi Universal SA for an undisclosed price and planned to transform it into a network aimed at viewers ages 18 to 35.
Newsworld International currently provides news produced by the Canadian Broadcasting Corp., and the channel reaches about 17 million households. Gore said the network would shift its programming to youth-oriented shows over the next year and a half, but he declined to offer many more specifics.
Gore has long been rumored to be interested in acquiring a network of his own, with published reports speculating that he wanted to launch a channel to counter the conservative political points of view often associated with Rupert Murdoch's Fox News. Gore has suggested in the past that the Democratic Party and liberals generally needed do a better job securing their own voice in the noisy media market by acquiring their own outlets.
Gore said Tuesday that his new venture is a purely entrepreneurial effort aimed at reaching a large young audience and that he has no intention of using the channel to promote a particular political point of view.
"This is not going to be a liberal network or a Democratic network or a political network in any way shape or form," Gore said during a news conference.