Ok the CBC didn't actually GIVE Al Gore $100 million bucks, but they did give away Newsworld International and they did actually bring the CurrentTV founders inside the Zed studios to show them how it's done.

Put the two together you get: current_ and an IPO for $100 million.

I'm not sure if this is a result of CBC being clueless and not realizing what they had, or Canadians getting seriously schooled by superior US business acumen.