Current TV

Quite a different take on participatory video than You Tube, CurrentTV is a cable and satellite TV network whose content is made up entirely of short pieces they call pods; each is around 5 minutes in length. About a third of CurrentTV's programming is produced and uploaded by users of the CurrentTV website. Everyone in the CurrentTV online community votes for what uploads should be "greenlighted" to appear on TV; there are online discussions of each piece. Participants don't just produce the content on CurrentTV - they produce the ads as well. And here there is money to be made: if your ad airs, you get a flat $1,000.00 And if the sponsor likes the ad enough to air it on other media, you might take home up to $50,000. As you might expect, this approach enhances the quality of the uploaded material. Contributors are aiming for a loftier goal than getting their work embedded in some blogger's post. But as you see, a video player for displaying a CurrentTV video on your blog or website is provided. So here, in honor of Cinco de Mayo, is a recent upload to CurrentTV about two schoolgirls' participation in the May 1st Immigrant's Rights activities in San Francisco. Tags: video, tv