Al-Jazeera Broadcasting in English

[Bishop]

Would you want to have the option of watching Al-Jazeera on your cable network?

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U.S. Snubs New Al-Jazeera Network


Only two months remain before the scheduled launch of Al-Jazeera International, the English-language network of Qatar-based Al-Jazeera, but still no U.S. distributor has agreed to carry the network's programming.

The network, staffed largely by veteran Western journalists, was supposed to launch in March, but the target date was recently pushed back.

Arabic-language Al-Jazeera has often been described as Osama bin Laden's propaganda outlet, and has come under fire from the Bush administration.

But the network's difficulties in reaching the U.S. market have as much to do with economics. Business Week reports that cable executives say it "makes little economic sense for them to pay a fee for yet another channel in the overly fragmented 400-channel TV universe."

So far the only company expressing any interest in carrying Al-Jazeera International is the satellite service EchoStar Communications Corp., which distributes the Arabic-language Al-Jazeera.

Al-Jazeera's Commercial Director Lindsey Oliver told Business Week that even without any American viewers, the new network will reach 40 million households in Britain, India, Australia, France and Germany.

The network will broadcast from offices in Qatar, London, Washington and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

As NewsMax reported earlier, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has accused Al-Jazeera of promoting terrorism and played a major role in the Iraqi government's banning of Al-Jazeera from Iraq. The State Department has complained about "false" and "inflammatory" reporting. Al-Jazeera has sought to tone down criticism of its alleged pro-Arab extremism by hiring two well-known newsmen for the English-language network - former "Nightline" correspondent David Marash and veteran TV interviewer David Frost.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1607922/posts