Gore announced to the cable industry’s annual convention on Tuesday that the new media company, INdTV Holdings, had purchased cable news channel Newsworld International from Vivendi Universal, according to a report from Newsday. Gore, the chairman of the company, said that they plan to retool the channel with programming geared towards 18-34 year-olds--a.k.a. 20-somethings--and that the shows would include “real-life stories”, not the politically geared programming that you might expect from a man that dreamed of a liberal network. 

"This is not going to be a liberal network or a Democrat network or a political network in any way, shape or form," Gore said.  Newsday reports that Gore hopes that the channel will help change the tide of "consolidation and conglomeratization" of the media by leading the change to "democratization."

The irony of those statements come when you look at the company’s advisory board and investors, which includes former AOL Time Warner COO Robert Pittman and Warner Home Video’s former president Warren Lieberfarb. Gore is also joined by a whose who of high-tech including Apple Computer CEO Steve Jobs, Sun Microsystems co-founder Bill Joy, and Real Networks chairman Rob Glaser.  “West Wing” actor Bradley Whitford is also an investor. 

The company will be head by CEO Joel Hyatt, who ran for the Senate in 1994, and is the founder of a chain of “low-cost” legal clinics, according to Newsday. Hyatt reportedly said that the new networks programming would include some comedic elements ( “Daily Show” knock-off?) and will not only cover current events but also programming about careers, relationships and other topics (that would hopefully be of interest to 20-somethings). 

There is no word as of yet what role Tipper Gore may play in the venture, but with the recent crackdown on decency standards she is a shoo-in for Chief Censor Officer. 
 
 

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