Gore, partner launch cable TV network

updated 1:38 p.m. ET May 4, 2004

NEW ORLEANS - Former Vice President Al Gore and entrepreneur Joel Hyatt launched a cable television network Tuesday by buying Newsworld International from Vivendi Universal Entertainment for an undisclosed sum.

Newsworld International is a 24-hour channel broadcasting international news produced by the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.

Following its acquisition by Gore’s company, INdTV Holdings, the programming will continue to be provided by CBC. The announcement was made Tuesday during the National Cable and Television Association convention in New Orleans.

“This will not be a political network,” Gore said in a statement. “These stories will be in a voice that young people recognize and from a point of view they identify as their own.”

Gore will serve as chairman of the board and said he will devote most of his time to the network.

Hyatt is a former finance chairman for the Democratic National Committee who ran a failed campaign for the U.S. Senate in Ohio in 1994.

“Having learned from both the successes and failures of other cable networks, we are confident this is a winning concept,” said Hyatt, who will serve as chief executive officer.

INdTV said its acquisition was financed by equity capital firms and individual investors.

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