Al Gore spoke at a conference in Pheonix one day after learning he had one the Nobel Peace Prize.  The Current TV chairman Al Gore had a lot to say… about Current TV. In fact, at that Pheonix conference he never even referred to the Nobel honor or his global warming campaign.

For those who have never watched Current TV before, it is a channel of seemingly random short videos created by viewers. Speaking of viewers, just how many viewers does Current have? Who know? They choose to not be rated by Nielsen Media Research.

The short videos, or pods, run in length from under one minute to over 12 minutes. And they really are in random order. A pod about the internet followed by a pod about fashion is not at all out the question. It’s like quality YouTube videos in a way. Current is available in 41 million US househoulds and 11 million more between Britain and Ireland.

Now the kicker: Financial backer and supermarket magnate Ronald W. Burkle said at a recent conference that Current TV is worth “up to $2 billion”. At that cost, the value of each subscriber would be $40 a month for each subscriber. Media analyst Derek Baine estimates that the channel earns 11 cents a month for each subscriber.

Current, which built its model upon viewer created content, has struggled to get as much journalist participation as they expected. They recently rebuilt their website in hopes that it will help attract more people to contribute content.

So is Current worth $2 billion? I’d say all signs point to no. Then again, with Al Gore being such a hero these days, who knows.

NY Times article