Chavez turns RCTV into Current TV

Don’t like the viewpoint? Shut it down (or, if you’re an American Democrat, boycott it).

Venezuelan leader Hugo “Boss” Chavez terminated the broadcasting license of one of his country’s most popular television stations.

RCTV was regularly the top channel in viewer ratings, but Chavez accused the network of violating broadcast laws and “poisoning” Venezuelans with programming that promoted capitalism.

The government promises TVES will be more diverse, buying 70 percent of its content from independent Venezuelan producers. It will carry sports, news and an educational program for children emphasizing socialist values, as well as foreign-made programs such as National Geographic documentaries.

“We’ve come here to start a new television with the true face of the people, the face that was hidden, the face that they didn’t allow us to show,” said Roman Chalbaud, a pro-Chavez filmmaker appointed by the government to TVES’ board of directors.

To me, this new format doesn’t sound that much different than Google/Gore Current TV.