Al Gore's Current TV pulls $100 mln IPO

By Phil Wahba

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Current Media Inc, parent of Current TV, the youth-focused television network launched by former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, is withdrawing its plans for an initial public offering, it said Friday in a letter to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

In the letter, Current Media cited "current market conditions" as motivating its decision. Only two IPOs have launched so far in 2009, while 16, including, Current Media, have been canceled.

"It's still early for a young company in this sector to be coming to market with a new issue at this point," said David Joyce, an analyst at Miller Tabak & Co.

"Generally, the market conditions are improving but the advertising market is still finding its bottom right now."

There are two other publicly traded stand-alone cable companies-- Crown Media Holdings, best known for its Hallmark Channel, and Outdoor Channel Holdings-- but Current TV might still have insufficient penetration with viewers to entice investors yet, Joyce said.

In the United States, Current TV is carried by AT&T Inc, Comcast Corp , DirecTV , EchoStar and Time Warner Cable Inc according to its filing.

Current TV has lost money each year since its launch, according to its most recent regulatory filing. .

Current Media had filed for a $100 million IPO in January 2008, but had not updated its regulatory filing since May 2008, often a sign that a company is reconsidering its IPO plans.

Current Media did not return calls for comment as to whether it would consider filing for an IPO at a later date.

Aimed at viewers aged 18 to 34, Current TV was launched in August 2005 to 19 million U.S. households. In May 2008, it was available in 56 million households in the United States, Britain and Ireland, according to its most recent filing.

Gore, who served as vice-president under President Bill Clinton between 1993 and 2001, touted Current TV at the time of the launch as an outlet that encourages a "two-way conversation" with its audience.

Current TV received the "interactive television services" Emmy in 2007.

Current TV was converted from a defunct cable channel, Newsworld International, that a Gore-led investor group purchased in 2004 from Vivendi Universal for a reported $70 million.

The IPO was to have been underwritten by JP Morgan and Lehman Brothers, now part of Barclays Capital.

(Reporting by Phil Wahba)