Al-Jazeera buys Al Gore's Current TV, now rebranded "Al-Jazeera America"


hooded-wanderer's avatar
[link]

This would actually be interesting; now don't get me wrong I doubt Al-Jazeera bought Current TV for the fact that they both share similar viewpoints so much so as is it was the only way for Al-Jazeera to actually have a foothold in America.

The network is considered by many to be one of the most respected news organizations in the world as it has won many awards for it's news coverage. Ironically it doesn't even have much of a strong base in America due to the fact that many conservative Americans still hate the network and consider it a terrorist organiation; even though it's owned by the state of Qatar, one of America's closest allies in the Arab World.

Well with that said what are your thoughts?
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LadySuzaku's avatar
I'm really happy to see this. Al-Jazeera is quite possibly the only news network I take seriously.

It's almost funny to see some of the comments on this whole matter on other sites. People claiming it's 'supporting terrorism' and is 'anti-American' and all that. i find myself responding to some of these people and asking if they've ever even WATCHED it while providing links to their English site and youtube page so they can actually judge for themselves. You know, a few of those people actually responded by claiming I'm 'moronic' and even calling me 'anti-American'. All because I point out the ignorance of their claims if they can't even be bothered to support them with actual facts and instead, resort to personal attacks! :rofl: One person even claimed to have a degree in political science, worked on political campaigns and did articles on Al-Jazeera that were published in major publications, yet they failed to specify which.

Meanwhile, I was able to list several of the many awards Al-Jazeera's won over the last few years and point out that it is regarded as one of the most reputable news stations in the world for it's hard-hitting investigative journalism and quality content. Their response, if any is forthcoming, should be interesting.

I actually find it pretty sad and pathetic, really. They make all these claims about a station they most likely have never watched, yet fail to even support what they claim with actual evidence, instead labeling people who have actually watched it and say it's nothing like they think as anti-American instead of showing that they actually know what they're talking about.

People would rather be comfortable and 'safe' in their ignorance rather than take the time to learn. :no:
TheRedSnifit's avatar
Fun fact: Al Gore sold Current so cheap because he was trying to offload it before these new taxes kick in.
EbolaSparkleBear's avatar
Fun fact: he missed that deadline:rofl:
TheRedSnifit's avatar
LOL. I'm just wondering how he convinced service providers to pay for a channel nobody watches.
EbolaSparkleBear's avatar
I think because he was a VP and a P-candidate he has enough clout or mojo to curry favor.
VISIONOFTHEWORLD's avatar
TheRedSnifit's avatar
The government applied some new tax rates as part of the fiscal cliff deal.
hooded-wanderer's avatar
Part of the half-assed fiscal cliff deal was that taxes would go up for those who make more then $400,000 dollars a year, I think Al Gore makes more then that XD
VISIONOFTHEWORLD's avatar
Higher taxes, but not new taxes.
EbolaSparkleBear's avatar
The missed sell date cost Gore like 8 million more in taxes.
hooded-wanderer's avatar
I don't relaly think I don't mind that, since I don't care much bout Gore.
HGWizard's avatar
Then the Kremlin buys it off Al-Jazeera and rebrands it RT-America! Hail president Putin! Down with Capitalist America!
Only kidding! :)

I wasn't a regular viewer of Current TV, but It had some pretty good documentaries on there, I did like popping in and watching them.

One I specifically remember was watching this one about the Brazilian government trying to clean out all of the crime and gangs in Rio De Janeiro in time for the World Cup and for the Olympics, and it made me never want to step foot in that city.

Right after I was done watching that, I turned on the Travel Channel and watched Andrew Zimmerman go to Rio and try out all the exotic foods there, and it made me jealous he was there on the beaches getting his grub on!
EbolaSparkleBear's avatar
I already have an English RT channel.

Ha! Yeah, Brasil is awful. Those elbow wide 'alleys' that people live in, scary shit man.
mci021's avatar
Oh great, one more thing for Fox News to get wrong. I can hear O'Reilly now "GORE SELLS TELEVISION NETWORK TO HIS TERRORIST BUDDIES."

I liked Current while I got it. My cable provider bumped it up into the next service tier and I wasn't about to pay another $50 a month get another 99 channels of stuff I didn't care about and 1 I wanted to see. I think this will probably be pretty positive for them.
mci021's avatar
Either I'm really good at predicting the future through my snark, or Bill O'Reilly is just that easily predictable. I'm going to go with the latter on that.
HGWizard's avatar
"You all know Hypocrites don't fare well in the no spin zone!"

Oh Bill, your doucheiness knows no end!
EbolaSparkleBear's avatar
Al-Jizzy did something really smart: they bought a struggling cable channel on the CHEAP.

Current's best hours only bring in like 50k viewers. No one watches it.
But the channel did have broadcast deals across the board, which made it attractive.

At least until Time Warner went apeshit and dropped Current from their service over the
change in ownership.

But if this goes through, Al-Jizzy still gets into about 40-50 million homes.
So you'll have another alternative to the mainstream garbage.

You got NHK, RT, BBC, whatever the French one is, and Al-Jizzy.
Black-Allison's avatar
Al Jazeera a few years back was finally unbanned from Canada.


Having Al in from of your name in America is enough for people to want to investigate you, however if AJ keeps up their usual coverage of things happening in smaller pockets of the world (of course their Mid-East coverage, but their South East Asian one is pretty good too) it can pull in some watchers.
momobfvfd's avatar
That is kinda funny since "Al" mean "the" and "jazeera" means "Island"
Black-Allison's avatar
I know. It's like if 9/11 was perpetrated by Quebecois we wouldn't be allowed to use the word 'la' anymore.
squirrels-are-evil's avatar
The Arab spring was quite small, though I was disappointed with how little credit they got for they're coverage
hooded-wanderer's avatar
Seriously? o-O;; Holy crap I didn't know Al-Jazeera was banned here, thank god it was lifted though.
Black-Allison's avatar
It was very ineffectual, because you know, satellite and internet. It wasn't allowed to open up office here for awhile.