One year after it’s debut, Al Gore’s Current is making a “small” profit. Next month, the cable network will announce plans for an online expansion. And the co-creator of The Daily Show, Madeleine Smithberg, is planning on creating a show (or pod, if you will) for Current next fall. Current was one of the first evangelists of user-created video content — users are even creating half of Current’s Toyota and Sony commercials — but Broadcasting & Cable’s John Higgins raises an interesting point. “[They] caught the trend early, but it is kind of surfing by them,” he said. “These guys had all the right ideas and all the same machinery in place that YouTube did, but they didn’t quite do it. Lighting struck 10 feet to the left of them.” Ouch. I wouldn’t say they’ve missed the boat just yet, and I think it’s a little unfair to not draw a distinction between moderated citizen journalism (Current) and unmoderated user created video (YouTube). But stay tuned.
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