The Al Gore I.P.O.

Al Gore's three-year-old TV channel (plus fully integrated website!), Current, has decided to take itself public.

For all of you who have never seen Current - which would probably be most of you - the concept behind the channel is to create an interactive TV offering for 18 to 34 year olds, with user-collaboration and participation informing the programming. Whatever that means.

As the company's S.E.C. filing on Monday shows, despite its edgy new media approach to television, Current is still losing money and has a $2.2 million in cash and more than $36 million in debt. It turns out much of Current's target audience prefers the even newer media format of web video to content delivered via TV.

Why an I.P.O.? It's possible that following on the tremendous success of An Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore may be looking to unwind his involvement (and investment) to focus on other pursuits down the road. Though he's probably not overly eager to wave goodbye to the $1.05 million in annual compensation he's reported as earning for his duties as Executive Chairman of the network.

Other investors, who currently include Bill Clinton through Ron Burkle's Yucaipa, Comcast, DirectTV, and others, may also be the ones ready to pull the plug on their investments rather than wait longer for Current to find its footing.

The $100 million I.P.O, which is being underwritten by JP Morgan, Pacific Crest, and Lehman Brothers, is still in its earliest stages.

Liz Gunnison