Al Jazeera to buy Current TV and launch Al Jazeera America - Polidicks

[img]http://imgkk.com/i/1yll.png[/img] (not the actual logo) [url]http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/02/al-jazeera-said-to-be-acquiring-current-tv/[/url] [quote=The New York Times][B]Al Jazeera on Wednesday completed a deal to take over Current TV, the low-rated cable channel that was founded by Al Gore and his business partners seven years ago.[/B] Current will provide the pan-Arab news giant with something it has sought for years: a pathway into American living rooms. [B]Current is available in about 60 million of the 100 million homes in the United States with cable or satellite service.[/B] Rather than simply use Current to distribute its English-language channel, called Al Jazeera English and based in Doha, Qatar, [B]Al Jazeera will create a new channel, called Al Jazeera America, based in New York. Roughly 60 percent of the programming will be produced in the United States, while the remaining 40 percent will come from Al Jazeera English.[/B] Al Jazeera may absorb some Current TV staff members, according to people with knowledge of the deal who insisted on anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. But Current’s schedule of shows will most likely be dissolved in the spring. “Al Jazeera is planning to invest significantly in building ‘Al Jazeera America,’ a network focused on international news for the American audience,” the Current chief executive Joel Hyatt said in an e-mail to staffers on Wednesday evening. Referring to Mr. Gore, he said, “Al and I will both serve on the advisory board of Al Jazeera America, and we look forward to helping build an important news network.” The plan will bring Al Jazeera, which is financed by the government of Qatar, into closer competition with CNN and other news channels in the United States. For Al Jazeera, the acquisition is a coming-of-age moment. A decade ago, the Arabic-language channel was reviled by American politicians for showing video tapes and messages from al Qaeda members and sympathizers. Now it is acquiring an American channel. “They really want to be able to compete for American viewers, and they have to find some way to get on,” said Philip Seib, the director of the center on public diplomacy at the University of Southern California and the author of “The Al Jazeera Effect.” Mr. Seib said access to Americans is important both for economic reasons, for the channel’s advertisers, and for “the journalistic legitimacy of their venture.” To date, the country’s cable and satellite distributors have been reluctant to carry Al Jazeera English. It is available in just a handful of cities, including New York and Washington. To change that, Al Jazeera has lobbied distributors, called for a letter-writing campaign by supporters and promoted its widely praised coverage of the Arab Spring. Acquiring Current TV, and thus its distribution deals across the country, solves this dilemma for Al Jazeera, at least partially. Current is hard to find on many cable lineups, and some analysts say it’s at risk of being dropped by some companies because of low ratings, but it would give Al Jazeera a foothold on the country’s cable and satellite service lineups. Then Al Jazeera could revamp the channel and promote it as a new American-based news source. [B]Representatives for Current TV and Al Jazeera did not immediately respond to requests for comment. There was no immediate word about the sale price.[/B] Current was conceived in 2005 after Mr. Gore and another co-founder, Joel Hyatt, bought the small cable news channel Newsworld International. Current’s owners, along with Mr. Gore and Mr. Hyatt, include several venture capital firms and two major distributors, Comcast and DirecTV. After several years in obscurity showing viewer-submitted videos and documentaries, Current tacked to the left in 2011 with the hiring of MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann. A year later, Mr. Olbermann was fired, but a liberal minded channel made in his image remained. The channel now simulcasts liberal radio shows in the morning and features news-talk shows in the evening by Joy Behar, Eliot Spitzer, Jennifer Granholm and others. None of the shows have drawn significant audiences. On a typical night in 2012, about 42,000 people were watching the channel, according to Nielsen. Mr. Spitzer quipped to a reporter from Mediabistro last month, “Nobody’s watching, but I’m having a great time.” At the end of October, Current confirmed that it was considering selling itself. Mr. Hyatt said in a statement at the time, “Current has been approached many times by media companies interested in acquiring our company. This year alone, we have had three inquiries. As a consequence, we thought it might be useful to engage expertise to help us evaluate our strategic options.” The New York Times Company mulled a bid for the channel, but decided not to do so. In recent months, uncertainty has plagued the staff of Current, which is based in San Francisco. Mr. Spitzer, the 8 p.m. host, remarked that someone needed to buy the channel. Ms. Granholm, the 9 p.m. host, renewed her contract for just three months. Plans for new programming at other hours have stalled. After the elementary school massacre in Newtown, Conn., the channel replayed the gun documentary “Bowling for Columbine” dozens of times. Current’s programming will continue for about three months. Then an international feed of Al Jazeera English will be simulcast on the channel. Sometime later in 2013, the rebranded Al Jazeera news channel, with 60 percent American programming, will start. Al Jazeera intends to open new bureaus across the United States to support the American programming. The news operation currently has bureaus in New York, Washington, Los Angeles, Miami, and Chicago.[/quote]

Awesome, I love Al Jazeera.

Middle Eastern news on a channel owned by Al Gore. Fox Nation is going to have an aneurysm.

Presumably it will still have no commercials, should be a nice change for Americans

[QUOTE=smurfy;39071766]Presumably it will still have no commercials, should be a nice change for Americans[/QUOTE] Is this even a thing? How.

[QUOTE=smurfy;39071766]Presumably it will still have no commercials, should be a nice change for Americans[/QUOTE] I wanna go on record, again, as saying that Americans have the shittiest fucking television ever. The absolute worst I've ever experienced in any other country. Six commercial breaks per movie, I've counted, at one point. Jeeeesus fuck. And they are long fucking commercials. In SA we get British channels that have like 2 commercial breaks and that's it.

Muslamic tv mind control

I don't know why, digging that logo. I really hope little changes in terms of content.

Al Jazeera is okay, but its amazing when you see how different the local channel is from the 'international' channel. The international channel covers some Qatari dissident being arrested yet the local does not.

I still don't really forgive Al Jazeera over here for receiving word of an attack on my FOB that was going to happen, then just setting up cameras to catch it for their news instead of warning us about it. A few people died for your programming Al Jazeera, I hope you are happy.

I've never heard of Al Jazerra, is it any good or reliable?

[QUOTE=Zillamaster55;39071923]I don't know why, digging that logo.[/QUOTE] That's actually Obama's secret redesign of the American flag, shh!

[QUOTE=Darth Hater;39071819]Is this even a thing? How.[/QUOTE] Al Jazeera is Qatar's version of the BBC, so Qatari citizens are paying to let you not watch ads :v: BBC has ads outside the UK though, but Al Jazeera doesn't have ads anywhere AFAIK They also [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e93MaEwrsfc]livestream their channel[/url] on YouTube worldwide. Al is a pretty cool guy

Them Ay-rabs are invading Murica with their propaganda tv! But seriously though, if that picture on op is their US logo, I think they need to change it to a more PR friendly logo.

[QUOTE=SKEEA;39071954]I still don't really forgive Al Jazeera over here for receiving word of an attack on my FOB that was going to happen, then just setting up cameras to catch it for their news instead of warning us about it. A few people died for your programming Al Jazeera, I hope you are happy.[/QUOTE] Anything for money. All news channels will do that.

this is awesome

[QUOTE=Moustacheman;39072033]Anything for money. All news channels will do that.[/QUOTE] Not true, some news channels have infinite funding. See state funded news agencies.

[QUOTE=Pvt. Martin;39071977]I've never heard of Al Jazerra, is it any good or reliable?[/QUOTE] It's one of my personal favorites when it comes to news. It's very reliable, and gives a great view of the middle-east from people who live there.

[QUOTE=laserguided;39072124]Not true, some news channels have infinite funding. See state funded news agencies.[/QUOTE] Some of them get more funding for covering major stories. More viewers = More funding. If your news station isn't raking in enough, of course you'll pull the plug. Now get back to shitposting, Chernarus.

Al Jazeera is like the fucking Krispy Kreme of news channels [editline]2nd January 2013[/editline] CNN gets demoted to the rank of Chevron donuts

[QUOTE=Moustacheman;39072146]Some of them get more funding for covering major stories. More viewers = More funding. If you're news station isn't raking in enough, of course you'll pull the plug. Now get back to shitposting, Chernarus.[/QUOTE] Key word here is some, not all.

[QUOTE=SKEEA;39071954]I still don't really forgive Al Jazeera over here for receiving word of an attack on my FOB that was going to happen, then just setting up cameras to catch it for their news instead of warning us about it. A few people died for your programming Al Jazeera, I hope you are happy.[/QUOTE] meh they're not really supposed to pick sides. Though that is a really callous thing for me to say.

[QUOTE=SKEEA;39071954]I still don't really forgive Al Jazeera over here for receiving word of an attack on my FOB that was going to happen, then just setting up cameras to catch it for their news instead of warning us about it. A few people died for your programming Al Jazeera, I hope you are happy.[/QUOTE] Not that I agree with it, but their contact who informed them would probably end up on the internet having his head cut off if they had

[QUOTE=NoDachi;39072222]meh they're not really supposed to pick sides. Though that is a really callous thing for me to say.[/QUOTE] Well they already sort of picked sides if they got news about an incoming attack, it's pretty shady

[QUOTE=Moustacheman;39072033]Anything for money. All news channels will do that.[/QUOTE] Just because everyone does it doesn't make it OK to do.

[QUOTE=hypno-toad;39072246]Well they already sort of picked sides if they got news about an incoming attack, it's pretty shady[/QUOTE] Why? News organisations receive tips all the time from lots of people and sources.

[QUOTE=Darth Hater;39071819]Is this even a thing? How.[/QUOTE] Is that something abnormal in the US?

[QUOTE=Trunk Monkay;39072254]Just because everyone does it doesn't make it OK to do.[/QUOTE] I know.

[QUOTE=NoDachi;39072257]Why? News organisations receive tips all the time from lots of people and sources.[/QUOTE] And they usually alert authorities

man i used to watch current tv all the time