Al Gore Sells Out to Al Jazeera

[TruthOut10]

Al Jazeera has acquired Current TV, the progressive cable news station co-founded by Al Gore.

The news was reported by the New York Times' Brian Stelter on Wednesday. Current had been aggressively looking for a buyer for some months.

Al Jazeera will replace Current's programming with its own network. The Dubai-based channel has long sought to extend the reach of its English-language service in the United States. The deal gives the network the ability to get in front of more American viewers, which has been one of its biggest challenges. Al Jazeera English launched in New York City last year, but has previously faced resistance from cable operators in other parts of the country. Though it remains controversial for many, its reporting from the Middle East during and after the Arab Spring gave it a vastly increased profile — and a new credibility — inside the US.

Sources familiar with the talks told the Times that the channel, called "Al Jazeera America," will be based in New York, with the majority of its content created in the United States. The rest of the content would come from Al Jazeera's English-language channel.

Current co-founder Joel Hyatt told staffers that he and Gore were "thrilled" about the deal. In a possible sign of the lingering skittishness over Al Jazeera, he said that Time Warner Cable will not carry the new channel because it had not "consented" to the acquisition. This will leave Al Jazeera with carriage in 50 million homes.

Al Jazeera Buys Current TV

 

[Quantum Windbag]

I saw this earlier. My first thought was that rdean is never going to call out Al Gore for selling out to the Arabs like he does Fox.

 

[Warrior102]

What a guy -- Pan-Arab Al-Jazeera Buys Current TV From Al Gore - ABC News

 

[NoNukes]

Al Jazeera is a good network with a good reputation.

 

[Stephanie]

Nothing new for a Democrat, they'll sell us and our country out to the highest bidder

 

[daveman]

So, a Muslim owning a small percentage of Fox News = horrible and evil.

An Islamic foreign government owning Current TV outright = good and righteous and holy.


Right, USMB lefties?

 

[Warrior102]

Al Jazeera is a good network with a good reputation.

Why don't you face east and praise Allah, assfuck.

 

[Sunni Man]

Truth be known; Al Jazeera is a fairly balanced news organization.

Much better than MSNBC, CNN, or Fox in presenting the facts on various global issues.

btw Al Gore is a limousine liberal maggot and a total puke..........

 

[peach174]

Gore wanted it sold before the end of Dec. so that he did not have to pay the higher tax rate.
He is such scum.
He touted about how he was all for the rich paying their fair share in 2000 but not for him.

 

[TNHarley]

Gore, what a fuck tot

 

[Sunni Man]

Al Gore has always been a limousine liberal hypocrite.

He lives in a huge carbon footprint mansion; but wants everyone else to live in an energy efficient grass hut with manure as a fuel source for heating and cooking.

 

[TNHarley]

Al Gore has always been a limousine liberal hypocrite.

He lives in a huge carbon footprint mansion; but wants everyone else to live in an energy efficient grass hut with manure as a fuel source for heating and cooking.

Because the world is coming to an end! OH MY!

 

[Sunni Man]

Al Gore would love to turn the world into N. Korea.

And be worshipped as the glorious leader.

 

[blastoff]

Al Gore has always been a limousine liberal hypocrite.

He lives in a huge carbon footprint mansion; but wants everyone else to live in an energy efficient grass hut with manure as a fuel source for heating and cooking.

Gore wants to burn Hillary?

 

[tap4154]

al-Gore rushed to close the deal before Dec 31 to avoid all the new Obama taxes that hit Jan 1, and my cable company Time Warner immediately used the opportunity to DUMP Current TV. They wanted to dump it long before because of it's dismal ratings but had a contract, however this changing of hands provided an out, and they JUMPED on it!

Al Jazeera Seeks a U.S. Voice Where Gore Failed
By BRIAN STELTER

Danny Moloshok/Associated Press
Al Gore, a co-founder of Current TV, which will be shut down by the Qatar-based news organization Al Jazeera.

9:16 p.m. | Updated Al Jazeera, the pan-Arab news giant, has long tried to convince Americans that it is a legitimate news organization, not a parrot of Middle Eastern propaganda or something more sinister.

It just bought itself 40 million more chances to make its case.

Al Jazeera on Wednesday announced a deal to take over Current TV, the low-rated cable channel that was founded by Al Gore, a former vice president, and his business partners seven years ago. Al Jazeera plans to shut Current and start an English-language channel, which will be available in more than 40 million homes, with newscasts emanating from both New York and Doha, Qatar.

For Al Jazeera, which is financed by the government of Qatar, the acquisition is a coming of age moment. A decade ago, Al Jazeera’s flagship Arabic-language channel was reviled by American politicians for showing videotapes from Al Qaeda members and sympathizers. Now the news operation is buying an American channel, having convinced Mr. Gore and the other owners of Current that it has the journalistic muscle and the money to compete head-to-head with CNN and other news channels in the United States.

Al Jazeera did not disclose the purchase price, but people with direct knowledge of the deal pegged it at around $500 million, indicating a $100 million payout for Mr. Gore, who owned 20 percent of Current. 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, according to several people who insisted on anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. But the deal was not signed until Wednesday.

A spokesman for Al Jazeera said that antitrust regulators had not expressed any objections to the deal.

Going forward, the challenge will be persuading Americans to watch — an extremely tough proposition given the crowded television marketplace and the stereotypes about the channel that persist to this day.

“There are still people who will not watch it, who will say that it’s a ‘terrorist network,’ ” said Philip Seib, the author of “The Al Jazeera Effect.” “Al Jazeera has to override that by providing quality news.”

Al Jazeera Seeks a U.S. Voice Where Gore Failed - NYTimes.com

 

[boedicca]

A bit of irony straight out of a Tom Wolfe novel: Al Gore and partners are selling their dismal failure of a project, Current TV to....Al Jazeera. Al Jazeera is financed by the government of Qatar with Dirty Oil Money. I guess oil is okay when Al Gore makes money off of it.

I'm blown away at the price. $500M for a station with 42,000 viewers a night (although it reaches a theoretical 40M homes via cable). Something very fishy is behind this.

Al Jazeera, the pan-Arab news giant, has long tried to convince Americans that it is a legitimate news organization, not a parrot of Middle Eastern propaganda or something more sinister.

It just bought itself 40 million more chances to make its case.

Al Jazeera on Wednesday announced a deal to take over Current TV, the low-rated cable channel that was founded by Al Gore, a former vice president, and his business partners seven years ago. Al Jazeera plans to shut Current and start an English-language channel, which will be available in more than 40 million homes, with newscasts emanating from both New York and Doha, Qatar....


Al Jazeera Seeks a U.S. Voice Where Gore Failed - NYTimes.com

 

[Remodeling Maidiac]

Rightwinger will be here shortly to remind us that muslims only fund Fox News

 

[boedicca]

I just love this story. It's a pinnacle of hypocrisy.

 

[Katzndogz]

Time Warner will no longer carry Current TV on it's cable service.

Time Warner Cable Drops Current TV Upon Sale To Al Jazeera

Al Jazeera is a propaganda outlet, maybe democrats don't want the competition.

 

[boedicca]

Oops. There goes the valuation based on 40M households!