Current TV, a pioneering effort in user-generated content initiated by "internet inventor" and erstwhile presidential candidate (some claim actually elected) Al Gore, will be launching several broadband channels.

Current TV's expansion with new broadband channels - believed to be ad-supported - will focus on topics that appeal to its 18-to-34 target demo, writes MediaPost. Programming will consist of what Current calls "viewer-created content" (VC2) dealing with cars, travel, action sports, health and games. The network, now in some 30 million homes, offers content one-third of which is user-generated.

Current will apparently not go on record, but details of the effort are being deduced from job postings on Current's website and elsewhere online, describing "specific channels for aficionados of original content, tailor made by and for those who watch it."

Current has since led the industry in the commercialization of that concept, writes the San Francisco Chronicle, adding that half of Toyota and Sony commercials on Current are made by the people who watch them. The article says Current is trying to position itself as the thinking person's YouTube - "a premium offering" where the best of user-generated content end up on TV.

Content creators submit pieces to Current's site, where viewers comment on them and vote on whether to "green-light" them to the airwaves. Current then airs the best among them on TV.