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2004-03-31 Home Front: Politix
Sore Loserman Lives!
PAPER: GORE SET TO CLOSE DEAL ON CABLE TV CHANNEL

What paper, EZ Wider or Zig-Zag?
The NEW YORK OBSERVER will report on Wednesday that former Vice President Al Gore will close the deal to buy his own cable TV channel this week!
After all he took the initiative in creating the Internet cable TV!
Mr. Gore and the man with the money his business partner, entreprenuer and Democratic fundraiser Joel Hyatt, (suprise) will acquire Newsworld International for around $70 million from Vivendi. The Observer will also report that Mr. Gore approached French-owned Vivendi through French President Jacques Chirac in 2003, hoping to get a better deal from Vivendi CEO Jean-Rene Fourtou. That resulted in a meeting with Universal Television executives and the COO of Vivendi in the summer of 2003.
I will resist the John Kerry jokes. For now...

How much $ did Gore put up, or was it all Hyatt? Inquiring minds want to know!
Joel Hyatt was the Democratic nominee for senator from Ohio in 1994; got thumped by Mike DeWine.
From newspaper copy, obtained by DRUDGE:

"Mr. Gore’s group plans to transform the sleepy foreign-news outlet into a youth-oriented public-affairs channel, a jump-cut news network for the iPod set. Despite vociferous claims that the network isn’t’ attempting to be the liberal antidote to Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News, it’s difficult to ignore the obvious: It may be fair, it may be balanced, but it’s going to be owned by an token minority position by Al Gore."

File this one as well under Bad Ideas.

Impacting...
Posted by Raj 2004-03-31 12:21:25 AM|| || Front Page|| [11131 views since 2007-05-07]  Top

#1 What is it with rich guys and throwing money at dumb leftwing ideas. The news in an MTV format with lashings of tranzi mea culpa. The talking heads will love it and commercially it will bomb.
Posted by Phil B  2004-03-31 12:37:03 AM||   2004-03-31 12:37:03 AM|| Front Page Top

#2 Oh yeah. let me tell ya about Joel Hyatt...his father in law was the late Sen Howard Metzenbaum - the guy who tried to take a knife to Clarence Thomas, and who tried to get a law passed that said companies had to accept whatever deal unions demanded. He made teddy Kennedy look like Rush Limbaugh. And Joel is every bit as liberal.

Mike
Posted by Mike Kozlowski 2004-03-31 12:43:19 AM||   2004-03-31 12:43:19 AM|| Front Page Top

#3 So Jacques the Corrupt kicked a favor to Algore?
I wonder how much of a sweetheart deal this is for Algore.
Posted by Dishman  2004-03-31 1:00:06 AM||   2004-03-31 1:00:06 AM|| Front Page Top

#4  Mr. Gore’s group plans to transform the sleepy foreign-news outlet into a youth-oriented public-affairs channel, a jump-cut news network for the iPod set.

Nothing against iPods, but reiterating from the lib radio discussion of yesterday: Again I say, this media stuff shouldn't be underestimated! Look how patient the libs are--aiming for ten or so years from now. ( Let's see . . . how old would that make "hip" Hilary?) With the popularity of little Britney Spears and her on-stage live masturbation concerts, the "cool" political pitch should be a shoe-in with the wayward younger crowd. Just link sex and music with lib politics, and remember every vote counts. Bet they'll bring up the hanging chad thing again, too. Gore has just got to tell his story 'bout that. He's just gotta. He's just gotta. He's just gotta. I think this development is scary.
Posted by ex-lib 2004-03-31 1:23:07 AM||   2004-03-31 1:23:07 AM|| Front Page Top

#5 I don't think so. The Dems are getting as humorless and antifun as they have constantly claimed Republicans to be. Hillary got smacked for joking about how Ghandi worked at her local gas station. Bush makes fun of himself at the National Press Club, and the Dems are beside themselves with outrage.

If it ain't no fun, ain't no kids gonna watch it.
Posted by Ben  2004-03-31 4:30:23 AM||   2004-03-31 4:30:23 AM|| Front Page Top

#6 Al Gore is nutz and acts like it!
He's taken his cue from Howling Howard (his buddy) and decided to just go on and scream alot.
If this lib media gets any listeners, it will probably be our grandparents who are nostalgic for old-time revival preachers yelling about Hell!
Posted by Jen  2004-03-31 6:06:29 AM|| [http://www.greatestjeneration.com]  2004-03-31 6:06:29 AM|| Front Page Top

#7 Hyatt established a chain of discount storefront law offices -- "Hyatt Legal Services" -- that used to advertise on TV a lot. (Hyatt appeared in the comercials, comparing himself to Abe Lincoln.) After Hyatt's political career cratered, Hyatt Legal Services kind of disappeared. It appears to have been bought up by Met Life and transmogrified into an employee benefits provider (call it group lawyer insurance, perhaps?).
Posted by Mike  2004-03-31 6:07:17 AM||   2004-03-31 6:07:17 AM|| Front Page Top

#8 I don't see this development as scary. As a New York Post editorial this morning, titled "Always Room For More, Al" puts it,
And on the left, there's:

ABC, BBC, CBS, NBC, CNN, HBO, Showtime, National Public Radio, MTV, BET, PBS, Christiane Amanpour, Paul Begala, Gloria Borger, Ed Bradley, Aaron Brown, Tom Brokaw, Margaret Carlson, James Carville, Bob Costas, Walter Cronkite, Katie Couric, Sam Donaldson, Charlie Gibson, Jeff Greenfield, David Gregory, Bryant Gumbel, Al Hunt, Peter Jennings, Ted Koppell, Matt Lauer, Bill Maher, Chris Matthews, Terry Moran, Bill Moyers, Keith Olbermann, Dan Rather, Cokie Roberts, John Roberts, Charlie Rose, Diane Sawyer, Bob Schieffer, Mark Shields, Leslie Stahl, Hannah Storm, George Stephanopoulos, Nina Totenberg, Mike Wallace, Barbara Walters, Brian Williams and Judy Woodruff.
What's one more idiot channel?
Posted by Dave D.  2004-03-31 6:19:12 AM||   2004-03-31 6:19:12 AM|| Front Page Top

#9 [Off-topic or abusive comments deleted]
Posted by mhw TROLL 2004-03-31 6:28:38 AM||   2004-03-31 6:28:38 AM|| Front Page Top

#10 Despite vociferous claims that the network isn’t’ attempting to be the liberal antidote to Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News…

Keanulint-brain. FOX News IS the TV antidote to CBS, ABC, NBC, CNN, etc.
Posted by Steve from Relto 2004-03-31 9:30:38 AM||   2004-03-31 9:30:38 AM|| Front Page Top

#11 im watch fox for the hot chicks. they all turning me on except for greta. she look like she probly in that s and m stuff and im not liking that.
Posted by muck4doo 2004-03-31 9:39:23 AM|| [http://www.petatv.com/]  2004-03-31 9:39:23 AM|| Front Page Top

#12 mmmmm Patti Ann Browne....

Al's channel won't be on anyone's basic cable for years, and nobody will watch it. I totally encourage this, it drains more money from their election funds, and nobody will watch it who doesn't drink their kool-aid already
Posted by Frank G  2004-03-31 9:52:00 AM||   2004-03-31 9:52:00 AM|| Front Page Top

#13 The market is already speaking, this from Drudge:
CNN has lost more than half its audience from a year ago, according to NIELSEN! In 24-Hour Time Period for the first quarter of 2004, FOX NEWS CHANNEL averaged 824,000 viewers, down 36% vs. a year ago, which saw heightened viewership due to the Iraqi War. CNN plummeted 52%, averaging 458,000 viewers, while MSNBC dropped 49% averaging 234,000 viewers.
In PrimeTime, FOX NEWS decreased 36% from its 2003 viewership, averaging 1,394,000 people. CNN plunged 48% with 806,000 viewers and MSNBC fell 50% with 333,000 viewers. Eleven out of the top 12 cable news shows so far in 2004 appeared on FOX NEWS. Only one of CNN’s shows, Larry King Live, made the list at number four with 1,302,000 viewers. King trailed behind FNC’s The O’Reilly Factor (2,241,000 viewers), Hannity & Colmes (1,540,000 viewers).
Posted by Steve  2004-03-31 10:08:30 AM||   2004-03-31 10:08:30 AM|| Front Page Top

#14 Dittos, Frank G. ('bout both the cable station and P.A.B.)

Hell, where I live, we never got CBS's cable outlet "Eye On America" or whatever it was called. I don't even know if it still exists.

The likelihood of getting some sort 24-hour Daily Show seems even slimmer. Go for it, LLL. Your message is clearly not getting out enough. (snicker)

(This does go to show what ambulence chasing via television commercial can do for one's wallet.)
Posted by eLarson 2004-03-31 10:42:57 AM||   2004-03-31 10:42:57 AM|| Front Page Top

#15 Frank G -
Patti Ann's cute - but MY fave rave is Rita Cosby..purrrrrrrrrrr

Mike
Posted by Mike Kozlowski 2004-03-31 11:40:47 AM||   2004-03-31 11:40:47 AM|| Front Page Top

#16 Don't forget Laurie Doo! Her lips....wow!
Posted by Lucky 2004-03-31 12:00:13 PM||   2004-03-31 12:00:13 PM|| Front Page Top

#17 im liking that kinan lady from the mornings.
Posted by muck4doo 2004-03-31 12:02:38 PM|| [http://www.petatv.com/]  2004-03-31 12:02:38 PM|| Front Page Top

#18 If Gore's running it, it won't be a problem. It will be boring. But if they hire people that know how to do the kind of programming that actually appeals to young people, then they can swing things their direction. They want the youth vote. MTV has a lot of the same tactics.
Posted by ex-lib 2004-03-31 9:32:36 PM||   2004-03-31 9:32:36 PM|| Front Page Top

#19 Let Al have his ideas compete in the marketplace. As noted above, his main competition will be other liberal TV programs but so what.
Posted by mhw 2004-03-31 6:28:38 AM||   2004-03-31 6:28:38 AM|| Front Page Top

#20 Off-topic or abusive comments deleted]
Posted by Free Speech Enforcer TROLL 2004-03-31 7:23:06 AM||   2004-03-31 7:23:06 AM|| Front Page Top

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