Al Jazeera acquires Al Gore's Current TV
Franck Fife/AFP/Getty Images
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."
- Al-Jazeera English goes live
- Intel joins the 2013 TV throwdown
- Egypt crisis brings Al-Jazeera U.S. footing
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.
Popular on MoneyWatch
- Amy's Baking Company: Post-meltdown PR campaign
- How to stop the mediocrity pandemic
- Reverse cell phone lookup service is free and simple
- 4 Things Not to Buy at Costco
- Top 10 professional life coaching myths
- Powerball: What to do if you won
- 12 great college graduation gift ideas
- Fired for violating an unwritten policy
Americans will learn, for we need this didactic input.
You expressed our Nation's situation quite well and yes, evangelical and corporate propaganda can, in reality, help our Nation to perish..or burn in
hell, if there is such an entity.
Mr. Gore and his partners were eager to complete the deal by Dec. 31, lest it be subject to higher tax rates that took effect on Jan. 1.
Glenn Beck tried to buy the network last year was told that they wouldn't sell to someone who wasn't "aligned with our point of view." So, naturally: Al Jazeera.
In my opinion, Al Gore would sell his soul for a " buck !!! "
as they came into power,starting with Andrew Jackson? Remember he was our richest
President ever, took the rich lands of the Indians. The one's who were able to stay
alive were sent to live in compounds. Strange American pattern began here, no?
Historically, many of these long suffering peoples were debtors and held down in
slave conditions in England, then when the load got too expensive in debtors
prison, they were dumped along our Eastern Seaboard....even some in Virginia,
but hardly admitted. N. Carolina and Georgia had Colonies of these unfortunates
people, in generations of dire suffering. Many also took on the names of their
owners, of which, were Anglo Saxons. In fact, Jimmy Carter's father was a descendent
of such. Sometimes body structures and names can be indicative so our Nation was
beyond Black and White, as so many seem to classify.
If one does a study on our cultures also our religions, there can be some understanding
why money is foremost beyond much else. Remember also, our different States
have had different social norms.
Forget history, one is blind in one eye...know not history, one is blind in both eyes
If I may add, for such a young Nation, our history and literature is great but too
many lies has corroded us liken to an acid. This I also learned first handed experience.