The Yahoo Current Network, a partnership between Yahoo and Al Gore's Current.tv, went live on Tuesday night. The aim is to generate more video submissions to CurrentTV, a user-generated TV channel, while supplying some original content to Yahoo Video. The pair are working together on four channels - Yahoo Current Buzz, Yahoo Current Action (for sports), Yahoo Current Traveler and Yahoo Current Drive (for cars). Notably, the Buzz channel is being produced by Madeleine Smithburg, a co-creator of the Daily Show.
Yahoo is an interesting choice, since Current has been associated more strongly with Google in the past - partnering on Google Current, for instance. They're also launching with some star power - Bono and The Edge from U2 appear in one of the first videos. There's a new payment system too - if your video is featured on the Yahoo Current Network, you’ll receive $100. If it airs on Current TV, you’ll get an extra $500.
The issues are fairly familiar: paying content creators, and how to merge professional videos with amateur clips. It's not clear yet how professional content fits in with the long tail world of YouTube and Google Video, where the best clips are found using social filters. What's more, Current is limited to 30 million U.S. households that subscribe through cable and satellite - much smaller than the audience for online video. I've always thought Current's model was backwards, but we'll see if this move gets them any more traction.
[img src="" caption="" credit="" alt=""]
Yahoo Current