Al-Jazeera buys Current TV from Al Gore

[tombogan03884]

I've said over and over, dems ALWAYS side with America's enemies.


http://news.yahoo.com/al-jazeera-buys-current-tv-al-gore-002839067--finance.html

LOS ANGELES (AP) — 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."

Al-Jazeera has long struggled to get carriage in the U.S., and the deal suffered an immediate casualty as Time Warner Cable Inc., the nation's second-largest cable TV operator, announced it is dropping Current TV due to the deal.

"Our agreement with Current has been terminated and we will no longer be carrying the service. We are removing the service as quickly as possible," the company said in a statement.

Previous to Al-Jazeera's purchase, Current TV was in 60 million homes.

In 2010, the network's managing director, Tony Burman, blamed a "very aggressive hostility" from the Bush administration for reluctance among cable and satellite companies to show the network.

Even so, Al-Jazeera has garnered respect for its ability to build a serious news product in a short time. But there may be a culture clash at the network. Dave Marash, a former "Nightline" reporter who worked for Al-Jazeera in Washington, said he left the network in 2008 in part because he sensed an anti-American bias there.

Current, meanwhile, began as a groundbreaking effort to promote user-generated content. But it has settled into a more conventional format of political talk television with a liberal bent. Gore worked on-air as an analyst during its recent election night coverage.

Former New York Gov. Elliot Spitzer, former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm and Cenk Uygur are currently its lead personalities. Current signed Keith Olbermann to be its top host in 2011 but his tenure lasted less than a year before it ended in bad blood on both sides.

Current has largely been outflanked by MSNBC in its effort be a liberal alternative to the leading cable news network, Fox News Channel.

Current hired former CNN Washington bureau chief David Bohrman in 2011 to be its president. Bohrman has pushed the network to innovate technologically, with an election night coverage that emphasized social media conversation.

Current TV, founded in 2005 by former vice president Gore and Joel Hyatt, is expected to post $114 million in revenue in 2013, according to research firm SNL Kagan. The firm pegged the network's cash flow at nearly $24 million a year.

[jaybet]

Gore's TV channel was sucking dry...he just sold it to get out from under it. Still....a marriage made in heaven.
Don't they have to go through FCC licensing proceedures? It has kept a lot of others from having their own stations.

[crusader rabbit]

This is certainly a good thing for Gore since his Current TV was incinerating hundred-dollar-bills at an astounding rate. 

And, it may not be a bad thing for the US since Al Jazeera presents a very different view of American politics--not nearly so favorable as our own lame-stream media.

Do they have a pro-mooslim position?  Absolutely!  But, anyone with reasonable intelligence can filter that.  (Yes, I know that eliminates 90% of my fellow Americans.)

When I was teaching English in S.E. Asia, Al Jazeera was one f the few English Language news stations I could access.  I found them to be quite good at covering major news events--typhoons, hurricanes, earthquakes, etc.  And they weren't bad covering things we don't usually see--like events in North Korea, Mainland China, Africa, etc.  Coverage of Iraq, Iran, Libya and other Middle-Eastern countries had a certain bias, but once you understood that, it was pretty accurate coverage.

Of course, they have regular editorial/columnist pieces exonerating mooslims for all kinds of atrocities.  Today's apologist suggest that mooslim jihadists have not engaged in the murder and annihilation of millions of non-mooslims over the years--a position disputed by legitimate historians of nearly every stripe.

So, there's that.

Still, I think it's a worthwhile read/view for well-rounded persons.

Just my 2-cents,

Crusader 

[tombogan03884]

Conservative radio/Tv is profitable, Rush, Drudge, Savage, been on for 20 years, Beck expanded into his own channel.
Liberal radio/TV ?
Air America failed,
Current failed.
No one wants to listen to the same BS they can get from MSNBC or CNN.

[mortdooley]

 Glenn Beck tried to buy it last year and was told they would only sell to someone who shared their beliefs according to the story on Yahoo this morning.

[Sponsor]

[tombogan03884]

Well yeah.
Can you imagine the conniption the liberals would have thrown if Fat Albert sold out to Glenn Beck ?
Their heads would have exploded .  

But here's something to think about.
They would only sell to someone who shared their beliefs ?
They sold to an anti American group that opposes personal liberty, advocates wife beating, and still practices slavery.

[Solus]

Well yeah.
Can you imagine the conniption the liberals would have thrown if Fat Albert sold out to Glenn Beck ?
Their heads would have exploded .  

But here's something to think about.
They would only sell to someone who shared their beliefs ?
They sold to an anti American group that opposes personal liberty, advocates wife beating, and still practices slavery.

Yep...Birds of a Feather....except maybe the wife beating

[Magoo541]

Yep...Birds of a Feather....except maybe the wife beating

Tipper would kick the kibbles and bits out of Al if he raised his hand.  Not that she's a closet MMA fighter he's just a typical Low T Liberal with no upper body strength.

[tombogan03884]

[crusader rabbit]

Tipper would kick the kibbles and bits out of Al if he raised his hand.  Not that she's a closet MMA fighter he's just a typical Low T Liberal with no upper body strength.

As I recall, Tipper had the good sense to leave that fat sh!t-bag a few years ago.

And I would add to your "no upper body strength" by observing "no intellectual strength" either.

Crusader