Al Jazeera buys Al Gore's Current TV

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Al Jazeera buys Al Gore's Current TV

(CNN)
By Kevin Voigt, CNN
updated 2:57 AM EST, Thu January 3, 2013

-- The Arab television network Al Jazeera said Wednesday it has acquired Current TV, the U.S. network started by former U.S. Vice President Al Gore.
The buy will give the network -- headquartered in Doha, Qatar -- greater access to the U.S. market.

"By acquiring Current TV, Al Jazeera will significantly expand our existing distribution footprint in the U.S., as well as increase our newsgathering and reporting efforts in America," Al Jazeera Director General Ahmed bin Jassim Al Thani said in a news release. "We look forward to working together with our new cable and satellite partners to serve our new audiences across the U.S."

The new channel, which will provide domestic and international news for a U.S. audience, will be based in New York, with plans to open up new bureaus across the United States and double the network's staff there to more than 300 employees, the network said.

Current TV, co-founded by Gore and businessman Joel Hyatt in 2005, attracted more media attention than ratings in the U.S. with the hiring -- and subsequent firing -- of former MSNBC anchor Keith Olbermann and also the 2009 detention in North Korea of two Current TV journalists. Laura Ling and Euna Lee were arrested and tried in North Korea for illegal entry into the country but were pardoned after former U.S. President Bill Clinton intervened, traveling to North Korea to meet with former leader Kim Jong Il.

"We are proud and pleased that Al Jazeera, the award-winning international news organization, has bought Current TV," said Gore and Hyatt in a press release.

"Since its founding in 2005, Current has grown into a national network available in nearly 60 million homes, offering thought-provoking commentary and Emmy and Peabody award-winning programming. Current Media was built based on a few key goals: 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, like Current, believes that facts and truth lead to a better understanding of the world around us."

But Current TV never found strong ratings in the U.S. cable market.
For Al Jazeera, the deal will help give it stronger distribution in the U.S. Current is now available via cable and satellite TV through distribution partners Comcast, DirecTV and others.

However, Time Warner Cable -- which runs Current TV in New York and Los Angeles -- has terminated its agreement with Current TV in the wake of the Al Jazeera deal.
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Al Jazeera buys Al Gore's Current TV - CNN.com)
 
it not a bad news channel,i watch the bbc cnn and al jazeera get objective view of the world...only just started getting fox news,intresting news i.e bus found on mars lizards run the world dressed as people ,it different different slant on things and funny
 
Usa needs this to get an arab view of the world. 99% of americans haven't a clue even with the wars we have had there for years
 
Of the many Americans who are upset about the sale and the idea of Al Jazeera hitting their airwaves, how many have actually watched or read AJ content? So far, I have found none. I first began watching some of its content a few years ago when The Doha Debates began being broadcast. Since that time, I have seen many AJ reports and documentaries. I have also watched/read many news reports from US medias, UK media, and Aus media and the Cdn multicultural media. While I have not agreed with all I have seen or read, I believe it only benefits me to hear the news of the world from the world. We can only grow and become truly informed people when we listen to the perspectives of others. I think if english AJ is allowed to do what it has been doing (award winningly I might add) within the US, it will benefit all.
 
I don't think the content will change much. It will probably be less extreme now.


Ironic that GreenGore sold out to foreign oil. And right before the tax hit too.

al-gore??? :hmm:
 
lot of americans and western world get very different slant..
i seen 'PRESS' tv it iranian channel that radical can be unpleasent very extream big worry if people believe the venom it shows....AJ not like that..but it is very anti isreal,it not anti american unless isreal is involved...
i have discovered some sick stuff AJ report in honesty against islamic countries such as the black widows or how mentally handi capped people are more often used as suicide bombers etc.this would not be expressed in our news...ON many things they print truth warts and all we to scared to
 
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