So it was announced yesterday that Al Gore had sold his Current TV network to Al Jazerra. Unlike what some people may believe, Al Jazeera is not some radical terrorist led media organization, just a Qatar based award winning news network with a name that's not Anglicized. The plan was to take those 60 million homes that currently receive (but let's be honest few watch) Current and use that to launch a brand new Al Jazeera America. It will be a welcome, independent voice on the US News landscape dominated by Fox News, MSNBC and the lost in the woods CNN.
Sadly, too many still fear the Arabic name rather than the message behind it. Time Warner Cable responded to the news, by dropping Current from their line-up. They claim it is because of low ratings (which isn't unreasonable), but the timing seems a bit suspect. They also say they have a deal with Al Jazeera English (the international Al Jazeera channel, separate from the brand new Al Jazeera America), but they have no plans of adding either to their channel line-up any time soon.
No comments:
Post a Comment