Al Gore’s Current TV channel is under the threat of closure in the UK after Sky axed the network from its pay-TV platform.

The satellite broadcaster, part-owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, took the “commercial decision” to no longer offer the liberal current affairs channel to its more-than-10m UK subscribers.

The move comes just months after Sky Italia also controversially dropped the network in Italy, leading to claims that Murdoch was victimising Current TV on political grounds.

Current’s pay-TV contract with Sky was due to end in two months’ time, but Sky had already informed the company that it will be cut from its pay-TV lineup.

Current TV is still available on Virgin Media and online, plus it can continue to operate as a free-to-air channel on Sky. But the network has already been hurt by low ratings, while the majority of its UK funding is understood to come from the pay-TV deal with Sky.

Staff at the channel and independent producers were informed today that Current TV risks closing as early as March, although the broadcaster is exploring options to remain widely available.

“We were led to believe that Sky had a genuine interest in supporting an independent channel but at the last minute they told us that they were ending Current’s contract without negotiation,” said Current UK managing director Jane Mote.

“No other British channel is showing the kind of insightful, inspirational and challenging programming that the independent producers of Current are offering audiences every day and it is truly disappointing that Sky has chosen to effectively take these diverse voices off the air.”

Joel Hyatt, who set up Current TV with former US vice president Al Gore in 2005, accused Sky of pandering to News Corp’s preferred political viewpoints.

Current Media chief executive Hyatt said: “Sky is shutting down an intelligent alternative to mass market programming. By doing so, Sky is once again discriminating in favour of the networks it owns and the points of view News Corporation agrees with.”

Current TV originally launched with a mission to “democratise” television by allowing new producers to make shows for the network, with around a third of its content user-generated.

The channel launched on Sky in the UK in 2006, and has doubled its UK audience over the past 12 months. However, its ratings remain low in comparison to other networks, attracting an average primetime reach of just 4,700 viewers last year.

Sky said that Current TV was dropped from its pay-TV entertainment lineup because it hadn’t “made the impact with our customers that we’d hoped for”.

“Content is at the heart of Sky’s business and we’re committed to investing in the cut-through programming that matters most to our customers,” said Sky commercial director Rob Webster.

“We already spend more than £350m a year with pay channel partners, but we need to make this investment work hard in delivering high-quality, pay-exclusive content that gives customers more reasons to subscribe.

“On the basis that Current TV hasn’t made the impact with our customers that we’d hoped for, we’ve decided not to renew our retail relationship.

“But as an open platform that helps many hundreds of channels reach more than 10 million Sky homes, Current TV still has a great opportunity to reach more than one in three UK and Irish homes. Should they choose to do so, we wish them well.”

source: digitalspy.co.uk/media/news/a359580/sky-drops-al-gores-current-tv-from-its-pay-tv-lineup.html