Ex. President of USA Al Gore
Source: Guardian UK
Acquisition of Al Gore’s cable channel gives Al-Jazeera an access to 60 million homes in USA
Al-Jazeera, the pan-Arab news channel which has struggled to win space on American cable television, has acquired Current TV, the channel founded by Al Gore and business partner Joel Hyatt.
Gore and Hyatt, who created the channel in 2005, confirmed the sale in a statement on Wednesday. The terms were undisclosed.
“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,” Gore and Hyatt said.
“Al-Jazeera has the same goals and, like Current, believes that facts and truth lead to a better understanding of the world around us.”
The acquisition could extend Al-Jazeera’s reach beyond a few large US metropolitan areas, where some people can watch Al-Jazeera English.
The network’s managing director, Tony Burman, in 2010 blamed a “very aggressive hostility” from the Bush administration for reluctance among cable and satellite companies to show the network.
Al-Jazeera has attracted 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 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. Read further in the Guardian.
“Al Jazeera, like Current TV, believes that facts and truth lead to a better understanding of the world around us.” Al Gore and Joel Hyatt
Source: BBC
Qatar-based broadcaster Al Jazeera has acquired Current TV, the cable television network founded by former US Vice President Al Gore.
Mr Gore and co-founder Joel Hyatt announced the sale in a statement, without giving any financial details.
Launched in the US in 2005, Current TV is at present available in about 60 million US homes.
The purchase could give Al Jazeera broader reach in the US, something it has been struggling to achieve.
“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,” Mr Gore and Mr Hyatt said in the statement.
“Al Jazeera, like Current, believes that facts and truth lead to a better understanding of the world around us.”
Al Jazeera, which is funded by the government of Qatar, first gained popularity after it aired videos of Osama bin Laden following the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Read more in BBC.
Al Jazeera (Arabic: الجزيرة al-ǧazīrah IPA: [æl dʒæˈziːrɐ], literally “The Island”, abbreviating “The [Arabian] Peninsula“), also known as also Aljazeera and JSC (Jazeera Satellite Channel), is a broadcaster owned by the state of Qatar through the Qatar Media Corporation and headquartered in Doha, Qatar. Initially launched as an Arabic news and current affairs satellite TV channel, Al Jazeera has since expanded into a network with several outlets, including the Internet and specialty TV channels in multiple languages. Al Jazeera is accessible in several world regions. Al Jazeera claims editorial independence from the government of Qatar, though this has been disputed.[2]
The original Al Jazeera channel’s willingness to broadcast dissenting views, for example on call-in shows, created controversies in the Arab States of the Persian Gulf. The station gained worldwide attention following the outbreak of war in Afghanistan, when it was the only channel to cover the war live, from its office there.[3]
In the 2000s, the network was praised by the Index on Censorship for circumventing censorship and contributing to the free exchange of information in the Arab world, and by the Webby Awards, who nominated it as one of the five best news web sites, along with BBC News, National Geographic and The Smoking Gun. It was also voted by brandchannel.com readers as the fifth most influential global brand behind Apple, Google, Ikea and Starbucks. In 2011 Salon.com noted Al Jazeera’s coverage of the 2011 Egyptian protests as superior to that of the American news media, while U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton also opined that the network’s news coverage was more informative, and less opinion-driven than American journalism.[4]
Current TV, also known simply as Current, is a progressive media company led by former U.S. Vice President Al Gore and businessman Joel Hyatt.[1] Comcast owns a ten percent stake of Current’s parent company, Current TV, LLC.[2] On January 2, 2013, it was announced that Al Jazeera had acquired Current TV.[3][4] Al Jazeera has also stated that it plans on shuttering Current, and launching a new New York-based channel called Al Jazeera America.[5]
The Current cable television network went on the air in the US at midnight EDT (4:00 UTC) on the morning of August 1, 2005. Current TV was launched in South Africa for satellite subscribers on the TopTV platform on 1 May 2010.
| Current TV | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| The Current flag logo used since 2011, designed by Wolff Olins | |
| Launched | August 1, 2005 |
| Owned by | Al Jazeera |
| Picture format | 480i (SDTV) |
| Slogan | Your World. View. |
| Headquarters | San Francisco, California |
| Website | current.com |
| Availability | |
| Satellite | |
| DirecTV | Channel 358 |
| Dish Network | Channel 215 |
| TopTV | Channel 406 |
| Cable | |
| Comcast | Channel 107 or 125 |
| Verizon FiOS | Channel 192 |
| In-House (Washington) | Channel 22 |
| Available on most cable systems | Check Local Listing for channels |
Categories: Media, Middle East, Qatar, United States
Quoting CNN Money
HONG KONG (CNNMoney)
Pioneering Arab broadcaster Al Jazeera has acquired Current TV, and will use the network’s wider distribution avenues to launch a new U.S.-based channel.
The takeover will provide Al Jazeera with access to millions of U.S. households, a lucrative market the Qatar-based broadcaster has long coveted. The deal also means the end of Current, the low-rated channel co-founded by former Vice President Al Gore.
Al Jazeera said it will shutter Current and create a New York-based network. Al Jazeera, which is financed by the government of Qatar, said it plans to expand its presence in the U.S., opening new bureaus and doubling its staff to 300 employees.
“We are proud and pleased that Al Jazeera, the award-winning international news organization, has bought Current TV,” Gore and Joel Hyatt, the station’s co-founder and CEO, said in a statement released Wednesday.
Current has long struggled to attract an audience in the U.S., emerging in its latest iteration as a left-leaning outfit fashioned in the image of Keith Olbermann, the firebrand host hired — and then fired — by the channel.
Read further.
This is great news. Al Jazeara has been kind in featuring debate/discussions between Ahmadi Muslims and mainstream Muslims and also featured some of the MTA coverage. I hope Al Jazeera continues to me a moderate and open-minded. Al Gore’s inclusion of Al Jazeera to his CURRENT TV with marvelous objectives to serve those who not heard is commendable.
Wish both a great success in the media in serving the world.
LOVE FOR ALL AND HATRED FOR NONE