TCA ’09: Current TV Partners With Rotten Tomatoes On Review Show

Film Review Series Will Appear On-Air, Online

-- Multichannel News, 1/10/2009 6:22:00 PM

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Los Angeles – Current TV unveiled plans Saturday for a new movie-review show in conjunction with Rotten Tomatoes, as well as a new weekly series that’s evolved from a short-form segment on the network.
The Rotten Tomatoes Show on Current emanates from a partnership between Current and Rotten Tomatoes, www.rottentomatoes.com, a leading aggregator of movie reviews, the network announced at the Television Critics Association winter press tour here Saturday.
The show will air on Current TV, which was co-founded by former Vice President Al Gore, and be distributed online as Web episodes accessible from current.com and rottentomatoes.com. The Rotten Tomatoes Show aims to give viewers a fresh and personal take on new movies, in their own voice, while providing a number of unique ways to participate and influence the show itself.
In addition to the latest movie news and information, each episode will feature crowd-sourced rants and best-of lists influenced by the viewers. The Rotten Tomatoes Show on Current will also include the Tomatometer, bringing Rotten Tomatoes’ unique metric-based  aggregated critic ratings to TV for the very first time.
“Current is working with the best movie review site on the Web to reinvent movie reviews on TV,” said David Neuman, Current’s president of programming.
Current TV also announced that it was extending its SuperNews animated segments into a weekly half-hour series, which will debut March 20. The first batch extends for 10 episodes.
Current TV has also struck a partnership with CBC/Radio-Canada to launch a new media company, Current Canada, a cross-platform media company uniquely focused on engaging young adult audiences through participatory and interactive initiatives on TV and on the Web.
Current Canada will be a fully integrated Web and TV platform that will allow users to participate in shaping the programming, while connecting young adults to what is going on in their world, from their perspective, in their own voice. Current Canada will exist as both a Web site and, pending regulatory approval, a Category 2 digital specialty channel, Current TV.
Nearly one-third of Current Canada programming will be created by the viewers, making it the only TV network that is produced and programmed in collaboration with its Canadian audience. 
CBC/Radio-Canada is Canada’s national public broadcaster, with  28 services offered on Radio, Television, the Internet, satellite radio, digital audio, as well as through its record and music distribution service and wireless WAP and SMS messaging services.
Current TV’s new season of Vanguard investigative reports will premiere Jan. 14, the network said Saturday.