Current TV - Goodbye :(

A4papertoosmall · 12/03/12 - 00:05

Tonight we lose a wonderful documentary channel called Current TV.

Pulled by the Murdochs, no surprise as to why.

Apparently it is also going from Virgin.

A sad day for free speach in the UK.

I wish to say a sincere and deepfelt thankyou to all those involved with current TV UK.

Digi Dan · 12/03/12 - 00:10

Not enough people watched this magnificent channel you talk about, to warrant it being a Pay TV Channel.

Current TV could easily have stayed on air if they were prepared to broadcast as a FTA channel like hundreds of others do on the Sky platform.

RadioKnower · 12/03/12 - 00:26

A4papertoosmall wrote: »

Pulled by the Murdochs, no surprise as to why.

You do realise they don't have that power?

Bill Clinton · 12/03/12 - 00:59

This totally sucks I've only really discovered in the last few months and have been watching Gasland, Food Inc, the programmes on the child sex trade, on serial killers, Michael Moore, Morgan Spurlock, definitely right up my street, I found that it was everything Channel 4 used to be but is no more, a channel filled with intelligent content that isn't afraid to explore any subject, I agree with them when they say they have put the typically marginalised subjects in the mantelpiece of their schedule, I'll lament the loss of Current because I can't see which channels are going to replace the style of content. With channels like Current you use it or lose it, but in the end I did use it!

Now I won't even be able to watch the Videocracy documentary they aired for their last programme, I had no idea it was actually going to be closing tonight! Even on the channel itself it seemed to be barely mentioned.

As it was pretty much a documentary channel towards the end, I wonder why it was still in the entertainment section and not the 500s?

jzee · 12/03/12 - 01:03

Digi Dan wrote: »

Not enough people watched this magnificent channel you talk about, to warrant it being a Pay TV Channel.

There are other channels that perform less well, and are still part of Sky's pay package as I pointed out here

The Africa Channel - 33,000 daily reach
Extreme Sports Channel - 89,000
PBS - 84,000

and lastly, this extremely poorly performing channel............

Fox News - 40,000

Current TV -- 123,000

http://www.barb.co.uk/report/weekly-viewing?_s=4

chemical2009b · 12/03/12 - 01:06

Maybe Current TV could return as an online channel.

Bill Clinton · 12/03/12 - 01:08

chemical2009b wrote: »

Maybe Current TV could return as an online channel.

A great idea, if the satellite platform costs were too overwhelming without Sky's support which is the reason I heard they were in trouble and couldn't go free to air instead

Current TV is another example of content going that isn't going to be replaced by another network, for documentary viewers that want something a little more groundbreaking, I don't think the Discovery networks, History & Nat Geo is going to cut it, they are perhaps great for general subjects that really mostly cover the sorts of things that are common knowledge, but when we want to see a documentary that is not afraid to be investigative and ruffle some feathers there aren't too many places on mainstream TV to see that except on Current of course! documentaries on the mainstream documentary channels are good in an entertaining and sort of populist way, but with Current's acquisitions and home grown programming the clue was very much in the title, it reflected real life and the issues we are all facing, with films such as Gasland about the impact of hydraulic fracking on water supplies and therefore peoples health in the US, a channel that like the Channel 4 of the past that we now seem to think has become tame, would put the likes of Michael Moore & Morgan Spurlock centre stage in their schedule, a channel for people who want TV to make them think. Aside from Controversial TV and the PBS channel perhaps this style programming will be much thinner on the ground!

It will fall to the BBC and Channel 4 to provide the groundbreaking documentaries again as the UK loses a channel which makes Sky feel once again as if it is only able to offer blander forms of entertainment.

[Deleted User] · 12/03/12 - 01:26

Why didn't Current tv try and get on the Freesat EPG? Only £30 odd k per year

Gordie10 · 12/03/12 - 02:02

I do feel sad that it's gone, but the truth is I never watched it. I kinda wanted to, so much so that I made it one of my "favourite channels" on my Sky EPG when it became part of the Entertainment/Variety mix, to try and draw my attention to it more. But I still never watched it. Never even looked at the programmes it was showing. All I watched was Al Gore's Closing Message tonight, hence I feel sad now it's gone. "You don't know what you've got 'til it's gone", as they say. Perhaps there were too many other people like me who appreciated its existence but never watched its programming. Or perhaps it had nothing to do with ratings at all.

joshua_welby · 12/03/12 - 02:14

Did anyone Record the programme, can they put it on Youtube or can they send it to me because I did not manage to watch it?

EDIT: You can watch it here http://current.com/

JackFoley · 12/03/12 - 02:34

jzee wrote: »

There are other channels that perform less well, and are still part of Sky's pay package as I pointed out here

Yeah, but we don't know how much Sky pays to carry those channels. Chances are (especially Fox News) not much, while for Current they paid more. I'm sad to see Current go, but in the end Sky is a business and if they don't make money on their investments they have every right to pull that money.

If Sky is the problem, why didn't they stay on cable?

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