GoreTV: Thanks But No Thanks

May 5, 2004

Wonkette's GoreWatcher writes:

Down at the cable industry's national confab in the Big Easy, reaction continued through the end of the day toward Al Gore's new cable network launch (Actually the announcement of the purchase of existing cable net Newsworld International). Cable veterans seemed to be still smarting over Gore's successful efforts to regulate the industry back in 1992. At an industry party last night that Gore attended, a group of cable operators stood together, slightly giddy now that Gore relies on them for carriage of his new network. There seems to be a lot of ill feeling towards Gore, having nothing to do with his party affiliation and much more to do with his past cable bashing.

Not bashing so much as screwing over. From today's SF Chronicle:

And those operators may not have any love for Gore. As a U.S. senator from Tennessee, Gore helped impose cable regulation in the Cable Act of 1992, according to John Higgins, deputy editor of Broadcasting and Cable magazine.
"I can't imagine a guy on earth who's going to have a more difficult time securing carriage from these cable operators than Al Gore," Higgins said. "He cost these guys multiple billions of dollars back in the day."

Insert "but he invented cable" joke here.