Poor Ratings Get Current TV Dumped in the UK, CEO Whines About Murdoch Censorship
Current TV isn’t just largely unwatched in America. Mimi Turner at The Hollywood Reporter notes its horrible ratings in the United Kingdom are causing BSkyB to drop them. “Co-founder and CEO Joel Hyatt has launched an astonishing attack on the Rupert Murdoch-backed pay TV platform, accusing it of shutting down the channel in an act politically motivated by News Corporation.” It sounded just like Al Gore when Current TV got the ax in Italy.
“Sky is shutting down an intelligent alternative to mass market programming,” said Joel Hyatt, CEO of Current Media. In Britain, the land of the liberal BBC and just recently, PBS UK? Hyatt continued his Murdoch-bashing: “By doing so, Sky is once again discriminating in favor of the networks it owns and the points of view News Corporation agrees with.”
Turner reported that BSkyB sources say it’s simply not renewing its five-year deal because Current TV has performed “very poorly,” and proven to be one of the “least-watched” channels on its platform. According to U.K. ratings data, the channel’s share of viewing was 0.024 percent in the past year, with its best series averaging 43,000 viewers. Its average peak-time audience in its best month in 2011 was 4,700 viewers – on a platform that reaches 10 million homes.
“BSkyB is withdrawing funding effectively forcing the channel to shut down,” Current TV claimed, adding that its staff, contractors, and program suppliers have been notified that the channel could close as early as mid-March.
Al Gore made the same noises when Current TV got the ax in Italy last year. From The Guardian:
Former US vice-president Al Gore has hit out at Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, accusing it of "an abuse of power" by forcing his liberal TV station off air in Italy because it did not fit in with the media giant's "ideological agenda".
In an interview with the Guardian, Gore said the Current TV news and documentary channel was told unexpectedly three weeks ago that it could no longer be carried by Sky Italia because of its decision to hire a US left-leaning commentator often critical of Murdoch's company. [That would be one Mr. Olbermann.]
He added that the decision reflected how News Corporation operated worldwide. "News Corporation is an international conglomerate with an ideological agenda. It seeks political power in every nation they operate. They wield that power to shut down voices that disagree with the agenda of Rupert Murdoch," Gore said.
This attack presumes that Gore is not running a channel with an ideological agenda, which is increasingly belied by the unpopular leftist hosts it keeps hiring. News Corp responded that Current TV's prime time viewing had falled 40 percent in the previous year in Italy. Nothing fails like failure.
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Comments
More projection...
Submitted by DumbCanuck on Thu, 01/12/2012 - 1:22pm.
Or have we forgotten Color of Change vs Glenn Beck?
Oh... and who was it that owns Fox News again? You know... The network that aired Beck's 5 pm program???
Oh yeah! You forgot about that, didn't you, Lie-berals?
Sorry Lie-berals... Didn't mean to spoil your party with some hard truth and facts.
"There... Are... Four... Lights!"
The Time Has Come To Ask....
Submitted by Samaritan01 on Thu, 01/12/2012 - 1:31pm.
.....If a tree fell on Current TV would anyone notice??
well...
Submitted by dmacleo on Thu, 01/12/2012 - 1:50pm.
4700 people would blame man made global warming for it... :)
CurrentTV is still in
Submitted by Beukeboom on Thu, 01/12/2012 - 1:47pm.
CurrentTV is still in existance???
Man, that thing must be losing money in a major way.
Yep, it's still around, and it bleeds money...
Submitted by PrairieSky on Thu, 01/12/2012 - 4:31pm.
I have to believe that Current's future here in the US is also in doubt. And have you noticed when some libnut media operation goes down in flames, it's never their own fault, but some other usually Republican or conservative, or other opposing group or "force" (that the libnut's word for it) that's behind their demise? Pathetic.
"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction...It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them (our children) to do the same." ~President Ronald Reagan
The Gore is exposed from behind the current tv curtain
Submitted by upcountrywater on Thu, 01/12/2012 - 1:55pm.
Al Gore: 'Civilization At Risk' If Global Warming Is Not A Campaign Issue
What are the odds... algore pops out today....
In other MSM news: Current tv viewership is boosted by 50%! (wow 2,500 folks.)
You Didn't Build That.
Guess what pal
Submitted by KornKing on Thu, 01/12/2012 - 2:56pm.
You got a shit product, so skip the whining
Current TV name choice
Submitted by ronljl on Thu, 01/12/2012 - 3:41pm.
Isn't a current a small fruit that has a large pit/nut in the center. A lot of nut, with very little meat!
Anyway, Sky is being blamed for not SUPPORTING CurrentTV, what a surprise. I wonder how open Current would be to airing an hour segment of Hannity or Beck? It would probably increase their ratings!
Hannity is already on via
Submitted by Jack Bauer on Thu, 01/12/2012 - 6:41pm.
Hannity is already on via Fox, which is one of at least 500 channels on the SKY SATELLITE TV platform in the UK...
Even FRENCH TV NEWS gets more viewers than Current TV!
All of the above Mr Obama? --- How about ALL OF THE BELOW, instead.
As usual
Submitted by Bob K on Thu, 01/12/2012 - 4:48pm.
I checked the leftist website DU to get their take on this story. I used their search function and typed "Current TV Dumped in UK"....... Nothing, no threads at all. I then searched for "Current TV ratings". There were plenty of threads, but when I tried to go to any of them I reached a blank screen that only said:
"An error occurred during processing. This may or may not have affected the action you were trying to submit, so if you were trying to make a post or vote in a poll, please check to see if the action was completed. It is not necessary to report
this as a bug unless it appears this error did prevent your action from completing.
Bug report id number: 15747739
If this bug persists, you can report it by clicking here"
Clicking on here takes you to a completely blank page. LOL.
Any threads reflecting poorly on Current TV an in particular, Keith Olbermann will get you nowhere. I then went back to the previous search and opened any threads that were positive toward Current TV and in particular, Kieth Olbermann.......... Surprise! They open right up.
I am not making this shit up.
Maybe Gore and his buddies
Submitted by Beukeboom on Thu, 01/12/2012 - 4:56pm.
Maybe Gore and his buddies want Obama to bail them out now?
Typical of the left ...
Submitted by Flashman on Thu, 01/12/2012 - 6:29pm.
Poor old Al is just like the deluded restaurant owners that Gordon Ramsey trys to help. He keeps trying to sell his sh!t-sandwich to the public and can't believe that they're not queuing up around the block. He'll never admit it's the sandwich that's the reason. They must need a new menu printed or some neon lights or a celebrity endorsement or perhaps tell the customers the world will end unless they eat it ... anything but admit the truth.