A few months ago, Michael Wolff wondered in the pages of USA TODAY - “Who Will Buy Al Gore’s Current TV?” He concluded that an Internet behemoth like The Huffington Post, Buzzfeed or even College Humor might make sense.

But according to a report this afternoon by New York Times media columnist Brian Stelter, the most interested party has turned out to be from far beyond our country’s borders, Web or otherwise:

Rather than simply use Current to distribute its English-language channel, called Al Jazeera English and based in Doha, Qatar, Al Jazeera will create a new channel based in New York, according to people with knowledge of the deal negotiations. The channel may be called Al Jazeera America. Roughly 60 percent of the programming will be produced in the United States, while the remaining 40 percent will come from Al Jazeera English.

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Here is a move that could offer tangible dividends for Al Gore and Joel Hyatt’s fledgling cable TV channel. Starting next month, former San Francisco mayor and current California Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom will be hitting the Current TV airwaves as host of a weekly talk program, The Gavin Newsom Show.

That’s Newsom, above, recently appearing on another new Current TV show, The War Room with Jennifer Granholm. FishbowlLA likes the look and sound of this guy as a TV host for a by-the-Bay based outlet.

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Current TV publicly parted ways with its cantankerous star Keith Olbermann today. Current founders Al Gore and Joel Hyatt broke the news in an open letter on Current’s blog.

We created Current to give voice to those Americans who refuse to rely on corporate-controlled media and are seeking an authentic progressive outlet.  We are more committed to those goals today than ever before.

Current was also founded on the values of respect, openness, collegiality, and loyalty to our viewers. Unfortunately these values are no longer reflected in our relationship with Keith Olbermann and we have ended it.

We are moving ahead by honoring Current’s values. Current has a fundamental obligation to deliver news programming with a progressive perspective that our viewers can count on being available daily — especially now, during the presidential election campaign. Current exists because our audience desires the kind of perspective, insight and commentary that is not easily found elsewhere in this time of big media consolidation.

Olbermann has yet to respond to the news. He did, however, promise a Twitter statement in the near future.

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You could sort of see this one coming.

In an interview with AP TV writer Frazier Moore, Current TV chairman Al Gore revealed that LA based Internet smash The Young Turks has pacted with the San Francisco network to hit the airwaves by year’s end as Keith Olbermann‘s lead-in. It’s a perfect place for hosts Cenk Uygur and Ana Kasparian to expand their already impressive Internet reach, following the former’s brief and controversial expanded role with MSNBC:

Gore called himself “a big fan” of Uygur’s MSNBC show, saying, “He demonstrated that his phenomenal success on the Web translates easily and well into the television format.”

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