Al-Jazeera buys Current TV from Al Gore

[hydrashok]

LOS ANGELES Al-Jazeera, the Pan-Arab news channel that struggled to win space on American cable television, has acquired Current TV, boosting its reach nearly ninefold to about 40 million homes. With a focus on U.S. news, it plans to rebrand the left-leaning news network that cofounder Al Gore couldn't make relevant.

The former vice president confirmed the sale Wednesday, saying in a statement that Al-Jazeera shares Current TV's mission "to give voice to those who are not typically heard; to speak truth to power; to provide independent and diverse points of view; and to tell the stories that no one else is telling."

The acquisition lifts Al-Jazeera's reach beyond a few large U.S. metropolitan areas including New York and Washington, where about 4.7 million homes can now watch Al-Jazeera English.

Al-Jazeera, owned by the government of Qatar, plans to gradually transform Current into a new channel called Al-Jazeera America by adding five to 10 new U.S. bureaus beyond the five it has now and hiring more journalists.

Al-Jazeera spokesman Stan Collender said there are no rules against foreign ownership of a cable channel — unlike the strict rules limiting foreign ownership of free-to-air TV stations. He said the move is based on demand, adding that 40 percent of viewing traffic on Al-Jazeera English's website is from the U.S.

"This is a pure business decision based on recognized demand," Collender said. "When people watch Al-Jazeera, they tend to like it a great deal."

More here:
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505123_162-57561745/al-jazeera-acquires-al-gores-current-tv/

[dollarbill]

http://m.nydailynews.com/1.1231907
A classic case of trying to distroy from within. I'd be will to bet Obama is smiling over this one and will block anything the FCC tries to do as far as stopping the sell.

[Pete]

Hmmm, might end up getting better news from them than CNN/ABC/NBC/SeeBS.

[Box]

Thats what the Nation gets for cheating him out of his birth rite.

It's odd that Americans show little to no interest in his TV channel, yet what could arguably be considered by many as a network of enemy sympathizers jumped on the chance to take over the network.

[Ret10Echo]

Well at least Al didn't sell them the Internet

As twisted and partisan as the MSM is in America today...does this really matter?

[miclo18d]

I think that Al Gore knows his channel is a flop and is one of the best pyramid schemers out there. With Fisker he saddled Kleiner Perkins with a lemon. I'm sure he made money in the deal but we taxpayers got the shaft after the US Gubment invested, now Current TV. Arianna Huffington did the same thing, the funny part with her was that she rails against capitalism and yet did what she did was pure capitalism. Do as I say not as I do, right libs?

[Dusty]

What's he got to lose?

He knows full well, deep down in his second chakra, the station can only broadcast for a couple of years, since the world is soon due to burst into flames from Global Warming caused by the Infernal Combustion Engine.

[ddoering]

And he sold it before 1 Jan so he gets taxed at the lesser rate from last year.

[kgoerz]

Hmmm, might end up getting better news from them than CNN/ABC/NBC/SeeBS.

Al-Jazeera actually do's a better job of telling the truth then CNN and Fox. But it depends on what you call news. Here is a podcast Amber Lyon was on recently. She use to work at CNN until she exposed the censorship of the news. Skip to the 6 minute mark.

http://amberlyonlive.com/2012/10/07/224/

[Richard]

Can an Al-Jazeera America survive in a "know nothing" market?

...a new channel based in New York, provisionally named Al Jazeera America — will pipe it into some 40 million U.S. homes. That will put it ahead of its nearest foreign rival, BBC World News, which reaches 25 million American TV sets.

And that rings true to at least a few outside analysts. "There's a major hole right now that Al Jazeera can fill," cable consultant Cathy Rasenberger tells The New York Times. "And that is providing an alternative viewpoint to domestic news, which is very parochial." The risk to Al Jazeera, she adds, is that "there is a limited amount of interest in international news in the United States."

The globally successful and well-regarded Arab network has convinced "Gore and the other owners of Current that it has the journalistic muscle and the money to compete head-to-head with CNN and other news channels in the United States." Now it just has to convince Americans to tune in.

http://theweek.com/article/index/238344/why-al-gore-sold-current-tv-to-al-jazeera

[Airbornelawyer]

The former vice president confirmed the sale Wednesday, saying in a statement that Al-Jazeera shares Current TV's mission "to give voice to those who are not typically heard; to speak truth to power; to provide independent and diverse points of view; and to tell the stories that no one else is telling."

...

Al-Jazeera, owned by the government of Qatar, ...How Orwellian of Gore to describe a state-owned news agency as "independent" and speaking truth to power.

Speaking just to the business side, though, I wonder how many cable systems which currently include CurrentTV in packages will continue to include AJA. And if there is more of a move to allowing a la carte cable services, where you aren't stuck with channels you don't want, how many of those consumers who currently have the channel in their packages will keep it.

[Badger52]

And he sold it before 1 Jan so he gets taxed at the lesser rate from last year.Yep, tough one to say it about but, ok, good for him. So he's a different degree of evil this year.

I think Richard's comment is very relevant. Can AJ provide a different or more varied view that will get the sloth off the couch? Are they any more likely to be a provider of choice than any other lame-stream domestic news outlet?

MOO, if they even look like they're making inroads for a nanosecond, it will be followed by the MSM demonization effort in 3 - 2 - 1....

[Airbornelawyer]

CNBC reporting that Time-Warner Cable is already dropping the channel as a result of the sale.

FWIW, Al-Jazeera is actually a pretty good source for reporting on some areas, especially ones ignored by more mainstream outlets in the West. As long as it doesn't directly involve the US or Israeli bogeymen, coverage of the Middle East and North Africa is fairly good. You have to sift through various forms of bias, but you have to do that with CNN, the BBC, FoxNews, etc. anyway.