RSSYahoo, Current Team Up on Video
By Ed Oswald | Published September 20, 2006, 1:31 PM
Yahoo said Wednesday that it had penned an agreement with Current, the current events cable network pioneered by former vice presidential candidate Al Gore. The deal would bring some of the network's "viewer created content" to Yahoo's video service.
The agreement calls for a co-branded page on Yahoo Video that would feature content from the network. However, the four content channels that Current would sponsor on Yahoo would be completely separate from the cable network, meaning some of the content may not appear on Yahoo! Current, and vice versa.
"Current's mission has always been to spark a global conversation among young adults," Gore said. "Partnering with Yahoo! helps us advance this mission."
Four channels would initially premiere through the service, with more to be added in the feature. The first of them, Yahoo! Current Buzz, would be similar to Google Current on the television network. The daily feature would spotlight what Yahoo users are searching for on that given day.
Other channels include Current Action, home to action sports news and videos; Current Driver, a channel devoted to topics surrounding automobiles; and Current Traveler, where users would post "video postcards" from their travels.
Viewer created content would appear alongside professionally produced content from Yahoo Current hosts, the companies said. "The new Yahoo! Current Network helps publishers find an audience and be discovered on the biggest network on the planet," Yahoo COO Dan Rosensweig said.
While Current TV and Yahoo Current are technically separate, a weekly contest will run where each Monday evening the best user-submitted video would air on the network, and the publisher awarded a $500 prize.
Within hours of its launch, Yahoo! Current appears to be a success. As of Wednesday afternoon, over 160 videos were already available on the service, across a variety of subjects.
"Today, for example, we have pieces uploaded from the drummer of an all female AC/DC cover band a student at UCF, a Bay Area hiphop filmmaker, and, uh...Bono," Connor Knighton wrote for the Current Blog.
The U2 singer's upload is called "A Day in the Life of the Edge," which chronicles the U2 guitarist's average day.
