Digital TV News

Sky says goodbye to Current TV

Thursday 12 January, 2012

By Duncan Heaney

Factual programming channel faces uncertain future.

Current TV, the network owned and established by Al Gore, is facing closure in the UK. Sky has decided to drop the channel from its paid subscription service.

Current TV specialises in news and documentaries. In addition to original series, such as 50 Documentaries to See Before You Die, presented by acclaimed documentary-maker Morgan Spurlock, it often showcases programming from up and coming talent, and independent producers new to television.

Despite a big advertising and PR push when it launched in 2007, Current TV has struggled to attract high ratings over the last few years, and Sky says this prompted the decision to wave the channel goodbye.

Rob Wester, Sky’s commercial director said: “On the basis that Current TV hasn't made the impact with our customers that we'd hoped for, we've decided not to renew our retail relationship.”

However, Current TV’s management believes the decision was politically motivated, as Gore and the channel’s political leanings differ greatly from those of Rupert Murdoch, who owns a large part of BSkyB.

Joel Hyatt, chief executive of parent company Current Media and co-founder of the channel with Gore, said: “Sky is shutting down an intelligent alternative to mass-market programming. By doing so, Sky is once again discriminating in favour of the networks it owns and the points of view News Corporation agrees with.”

It’s the latest in a run of bad news for the TV station. Last year, the channel was axed by Sky Italia. Since the majority of the channel’s money comes from its pay-TV deal with Sky, it now has to find new sources of funding.

So what’s next for Current TV? It does have a few options available. It’s still available on Virgin Media and online, so it’s not out of the fight yet. It could also return to Sky as a free channel purely supported by advertising, although it may be a challenge for it to attract companies looking to promote themselves due to the relatively niche nature of the channel .

Current TV was available on Sky channel 183, and is still available on Virgin Media channel 155. Notable upcoming programming includes the television premiere of Shed Your Tears and Walk Away, an award-winning film documentary about drug and alcohol addiction in Yorkshire.