Low ratings could end cable deal for Gore's Current TV

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

Exclusive: Low ratings could end cable deal for Gore's Current TV

By Peter Lauria

Thu Apr 5, 2012 12:20am EDT

(Reuters) - Al Gore's Current TV has bigger problems to deal with than a potential lawsuit from fired news anchor Keith Olbermann - namely not getting kicked off Time Warner Cable for low ratings.

According to three sources with knowledge of the situation, Time Warner Cable Inc's carriage agreement with Current TV stipulates that, if the left-leaning political news network fails to meet a minimum threshold for overall viewers in a given quarter, financial penalties such as Current TV being required to increase marketing and promotion spending on the cable operator's systems are triggered.

If Current TV misses the audience benchmark in two consecutive quarters, another clause is triggered that would allow Time Warner Cable to drop the channel. The condition was built into the most recent distribution pact between the two parties, which was signed in 2010.

"Time Warner Cable has been flirting with the idea of pulling Current off its systems for some time now," said one of the sources, who all spoke on condition of anonymity.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/05/us-currenttv-timewarnercable-idUSBRE83404P20120405

[Ian David]

1. Well, it's a good thing they have Keith Olbermann as a huge ratings draw. Oh, wait... n/t

[demilib]

9. Maybe they did Keith Olberman a favor

[Cooley Hurd]

2. Is this a clause that is applicable to ALL channels on that tier?

...or just progressive ones? How many people actually watch the NBC Home Shopping Network????

[mucifer]

3. Stephanie Miller has tripple the am ratings since she started last week.

Not sure how Bill Press is doing.

I would think people would want as many progressive voices out there as possible, especially during an election year.

I don't understand why people at DU want them to fail.

Would you rather just have joe scarborough on in the am? I don't get it.

[Bluenorthwest]

6. I like Miller a lot. Not sure how you are getting this 'tripled the ratings in the morning'

conclusion. Current had no morning show prior to hers. When they hired KO and went 'all news' they also cancelled nearly all of their other programming, and thus their morning slot was not really a slot at all.
I'd like to see actual figures for her show, comparing her show to reruns of stuff Current put on when they axed all their other shows tells me nothing at all.
No one wants them to fail. They are just failing on their own. I was a huge Current supporter from day one. They had some really interesting stuff going on. Then just around the time that people started watching it they axed it all
DUers were really resistant to watching Current. More than one told me it is only for 'young people' or that the hosts were 'too young'. For years they had great in depth documentary shows, and frankly I stopped asking DUers to watch them.

[mucifer]

10. I just quoted her blog. Maybe she made it up. Who knows. She's a comedian.

[Chipper Chat]

4. Having a high channel number on my cable system doesn't help.

Current is way up in the dial -remotely tucked between a shopping channel and a cartoon channel. But channels 7 and 8 are both shopping channels and 2, 5 and 10 are religious channels. Go figger.

[Ninga]

5. I always make sure that I am on Current TV even when I am not home. As I understand it

Dish and cable cos. can audit usage.

Another thought thought is that it took Fox several years of horrible ratings before they jumped in viewership.

I'm doing all I can to hang in there with Current.

[limpyhobbler]

7. Maybe we should all call Time Warner and say we love Current...

Also I'm sure a lot of people watch it online since it is not offered on cable where they live.

Typical...offer the channel only in a few markets, hide it way up between two cartoon networks, and then say it's failing. Just to have an excuse to pressure it to eventually shut down.

A fair shot would be to put it right next to Fox on the dial.

[friendly_iconoclast]

8. Verizon already gave the same reason for dropping Bridges TV from FiOS

Of course, the antics of its founder and CEO might have had something to do with the poor ratings:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muzzammil_Hassan

[Giantsfootball10]

11. I want NewsWorld International back

I loved that.