Al Jazeera launches US television news service

[frigidmagi]

BBC

Al Jazeera is launching a new TV news channel in the United States.

Al Jazeera America will be available in almost 48 million US households, offering 14 hours of news each day.

The new network replaces Current TV, the cable television network founded by former US Vice President Al Gore, which the Qatar-owned broadcaster acquired in January 2013 for around $500m (£308m).

However, it has yet to sign agreements with major operators, such as Time Warner Cable, to carry the channel.

Al Jazeera America said that they will give less airtime than other US networks to advertising, typically carrying six minutes of adverts each hour, less than the industry average of 15 minutes.

Globally, Al Jazeera is seen in more than 260 million homes in 130 countries.

However, the network has previously struggled to attract a US audience, partly due to it being perceived as anti-American.

In 2010, Al-Jazeera English blamed a "very aggressive hostility" from the administration of former President George W Bush for reluctance among US cable companies to show the network.

'Unique'
After the takeover of Current TV was announced in January 2013, Time Warner Cable dropped Current from its line-up.

"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 nation's second-largest TV operator said.

Al Jazeera said that its new schedule "fulfils its promise to provide unbiased in-depth coverage of domestic and international news important to its American viewers".

"We're breaking in with something that we think is unique and are confident, with our guts and some research, that the American people are looking for," said Kate O'Brian, president of Al Jazeera America and a former ABC News executive.

The new US network will employ around 850-900 journalists at launch, based in 12 US cities.

Alot of people are getting excited about this, but I don't see the point. 1st Amendment and all that, as long as they don't start advocating attacks on the US and it's citizens. Mind you, I doubt they'll be popular.

[General Havoc]

Al Jazeera has actually become one of the finer news organizations on the planet, and I say that as someone who casually despises both the government of Qatar and the general tenets of Islam. I don't know what slant they put on things, but it's considerably less intrusive than either Fox News or MSNBC's political polemics, nor even the BBC's obsession with the impending doom of the United States. If they can keep the standard up, particularly if they push the other networks to improve, then I'm all in favor of it.

[Cynical Cat]

Thank the merciless gods. Al Jazeera on an off day is still better than most North American television news.

[Soontir948]

Unfortunately, I have TWC, but if I ever want to watch news from them, I guess I can always just stream from their website.

[Josh]

Al Jazeera has actually become one of the finer news organizations on the planet, and I say that as someone who casually despises both the government of Qatar and the general tenets of Islam. I don't know what slant they put on things, but it's considerably less intrusive than either Fox News or MSNBC's political polemics, nor even the BBC's obsession with the impending doom of the United States. If they can keep the standard up, particularly if they push the other networks to improve, then I'm all in favor of it.

The slant is 'Sunni', I'd say from the coverage of the Arab Spring. Lots of focus on the likes of Libya and not much to be said about Bahrain.