Al Jazeera America will be available to 40 million American households through major providers including DirectTV, Comcast, DISH Network, Verizon and AT&T starting today. Al Jazeera is a major news channel in the Middle East, where it was launched in 1996. Over the past decade, the network has launched additional international channels like Al Jazeera […]
Al Jazeera America will be available to 40 million American households through major providers including DirectTV, Comcast, DISH Network, Verizon and AT&T starting today.
Al Jazeera is a major news channel in the Middle East, where it was launched in 1996. Over the past decade, the network has launched additional international channels like Al Jazeera English.
It has long tried to break into the U.S. market but had little luck getting American broadcasters to carry its channels.
Al Jazeera English has been available in the U.S. online, but has only been picked up by a handful of cable providers, like Buckeye Cable in Toledo, OH. That international channel won’t be available on TV or the internet in the U.S. once Al Jazeera America launches.
The network announced the launch of its new channel in January when it bought Current TV, the channel co-founded by former Vice President Al Gore.
Al Jazeera paid for Current TV’s infrastructure, but that does not mean it automatically picked up its carriage agreements with American broadcasters, said Eric Nisbet, a professor of communications at The Ohio State University.
