So here’s the deal Current TV has for its new chief news officer: Keith Olbermann, who in addition to crafting the behind the scenes content for the cable channel will be back in his old 8pm time slot this summer, gets to say whatever he wants. “He just has to…

While Current TV is aiming to make a big splash in television with its announcement Tuesday that Keith Olbermann will join as both nightly on-air talent and equity stakeholder, the network’s executives also claimed to have an eye on making an impact online.

The New York Times (NYSE: NYT) is reporting that Keith Olbermann is joining Current TV, a small cable channel best known for its off-air founder, former Vice President Al Gore. This was about as unexpected as it gets, and yet it makes a lot of sense for both Olbermann and…

Will Wright, creator of virtual world The Sims, is getting into television with an episodic series for Current TV tentatively titled Bar Karma. While this is Wright’s first time working in TV, the series’ central element is built on the kind of user-participation that his games were based on. Essentially,…

Roughly 90 days into Mark Roshenthal’s tenure as CEO of Current Media, the company’s cable network is dropping short-form programming and some of its in-house originals in favor of more traditional show lengths and acquisitions. Three shows have been canceled (Current Tonight, Current Takeover and Current Exposed)—as have 80 jobs.…

Current Media, the parent of Al Gore-based Current TV, has replaced the longtime CEO Joel Hyatt with another media vet: Mark Rosenthal, who has been Current’s board since it was founded four years ago, is taking over as CEO of the still-nascent venture. Till recently he was vice chairman and…

Al Gore-backed Current Media enticed multiple ad agencies to tweet for its business in April, but now the attention-grabbing idea has been shelved and the executive behind it is gone—as the digital media company reevaluates whether it even needs an ad agency at all. VP of brand Jordan Kretchmer hatched…

Major League Baseball is continuing its forward-thinking when it comes to streaming live games by teaming with browser-based media provider Boxee. The open source video site offered a number of news items at its App Developer Challenge in San Francisco. Aside from the deal with Major League Baseball Advanced Media,…

Even as developers struggle with Twitter’s abrupt platform changes—and worry about having their service shut down all together—companies are falling deeper under the spell of the micro-blogging service. The latest example: Al Gore-backed Current Network is using Twitter to pick a new ad agency. Jordan Kretchmer, Current Network’s VP of…

—Sparkplay Media: Current Media and *AOL* vet Stephen Blumenfeld joined browser-based game developer Sparkplay Media as CTO. Blumenfeld had most recently been serving as a new media and tech consultant; prior to consulting, he spent three years as CTO of Al Gore-backed Current Media. Before Current, he’d served as VP…

Al Gore’s Current Media has canceled plans for a $100 million IPO. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Current Media says it has withdrawn its registration “in light of current market conditions.” When the company initially filed for the IPO last January, it said it would use…

Current TV, backed by Al Gore, is going through a bit of its own gore today, as it laid off about 60 of its employees. The exact count: it is eliminating 60 positions in U.S. but is adding 30 new positions, and many of those laid off will be offered…

Not the trend you want to be showing as you work towards an IPO: In its Q1 ended March 31, Current TV had ad revenue of just $2.5 million, a decline from $2.64 million in the year-ago quarter, according to an amended S-1 filing. Total revenue for the quarter was…

A first look into the books of Al Gore’s cable network: Current Media (parent of Al Gore-backed Current TV) has filed for a $100 million NASDAQ IPO, trading under the ticker “CRTM”. The network, which launched in 2005, had 2007 annual revenue of $63.7 million, up 68 percent from $37.8…