We are starting to see some early reviews of Current TV, which does have advertising support from Sony and others. I’ve seen a couple of reviews (including the one below) and there seems to be some concern about content being in short supply and on-air personalities being a little slick, but the user-generated content itself seems to be quite welcome.

NY Times: Betting a Network on Youths Who Think by Alessandra Stanley

Current is an earnest 4-H Club of a network dressed up to look cool and contemporary, but it still seems fresher and less crass than "American Idol" and other shows that try to harness viewer participation.

The advertising reflects the network’s target audience: Sony gear, sneakers and L’Oréal hair products. CBS and other network evening news broadcasts are bracketed by commercials for Cialis or rheumatism pills. Current has ads for debt relief. …

For all its rough spots and blog pretensions, Current is for-profit public-access television, an attempt to add grass-roots diversity to a television universe that is ever more controlled by a few media conglomerates. Current is easily mocked, but it is at least one youth-oriented cable network that does not dance to the tune of the 82-year-old Sumner Redstone, the chairman of Viacom.