Posted on 08/19/2013 11:34:32 PM PDT by the_Watchman
Al Jazeera America begins broadcasting Tuesday but will only be available in about 50 million homes. A link on the network’s website allows users to search whether the channel is available in their neighborhood, and provides a form letter for potential customers to request it from their TV providers.
(Excerpt) Read more at theblaze.com ...
Would other Freepers please check to see if this is so in your area.
We need to organize a campaign! I plan to call Dish and tell them to cancel the day Al Jazeera America becomes available. We should coordinate and perhaps we can turn the tide!
50 million homes means they will get something like $5.5 million a month from you subscribers.
If I wanted to hear pro-muslim propaganda I would listen to White House press briefings.
If I wanted to hear pro-muslim propaganda I would listen to White House press briefings.
Dish Network is now involved. A previous report had stated that Times Warner was in negotiation with them.
We need to get a substantial number of Dish customers up in arms! How can we do that?
On a daily basis, I doubt if Al Jazeera can generate more than 15,000 viewers across the entire US. It’s a failed business attempt. But, what drives this on presently is a deep-pockets idiot who was talked into this idea....which will provide decent high-paying journalism jobs for approximately 200 wannabe TV news people.
In three years....the pockets will emptied of enough cash and the leadership will determine that Americans just won’t move over to Al Jazeera’s brand or style. My humble bet is that China buys the network at a cheap price....hires three or four Fox News faces, and revamps it by 2020....bringing you “Heartland News”.
The reason they paid so much for Current was to get their coverage contract. No other reason.
You’re going to be very hard pressed to get any carrier with Al Jazerra to pull them off the air since they are going to have to run out the term of the Current contract.
Renewals? That’s going to be difficult to impossible.
Madison Avenue has turned up its nose at the network and not one advertiser of note has signed up or wants to touch them.
They will be gone when the Current contracts begin to expire. The revolt will be ugly and not one major US advertiser will spend dollar one with them when the news/current events options abound and the backlash would be massive.
I don’t think they realize what a futile venture this is going to turn out to be.
How do we find out the term of the Current contract? Should we wait to cancel if they renew? Will we be able to tell if they renew?
There is not a name there that would make me want to watch it. I am please to discover that it will not be available in my area anyway. I hope it fails as badly as Current TV did...or worse.
Just for fun I went to the website to see if this channel was going to be offered in my area. I received a message telling me access to the site is forbidden.
Which website were you trying to visit Dish or Al Jazeera?
Blow s4!+ up?
What do I win?
(nully is going back to read the article now)
How did you discover that it is not available in your area? Note that the list of cities on this article are only their news gathering offices.
So Time Warner dropped Current when the Al Jazeera deal was announced. Bully for them! Unfortunately, Times Warner does not provide service in my area.
I know nothing about Aljazera America, but from Doha it has been on my Philippine G-sat for the last several years.
While I have rarely watched it, I found nothing bad about it
at the time. I would, however, puke if Goreon happens to show up on it. FOX is the only other sat TV news that I get.
I discussed this issue a while back with some people I know who are in the know. AJ will not be in my area.
Al Gorezeera
“In most of these cases, the Current TV contracts are still in force so for a couple more years, at least, companies like Comcast and Direct TV will continue to carry it when it becomes Al-Jazeera.”
What is more full of lies and propaganda than The New York Times?..
More full of innuendo and false rumor than The Sun or Enquirer?..
More full of leftist and feel-good clap-trap than “O” the Magazine?
Seriously more full of insanity than any “Scientology Publication”?
Answer: Al Jazeera...
For me it is bad news that Direct TV will be carrying Al Jazeera. That may leave Cox Cable TV as my only alternative for bundled TV. However, there was recently an Motley Fools webcast claiming that bundled TV services are going the way of the dodo bird.
My son and I just discussed how soon this might happen and wondered if we should already be jumping ship. Currently, it depends on the availability of the things you really want to watch on unbundled channels.
Single station cable network carriage contracts typically last 3-5 years. Longer if it is tied to a major network/group. I would not be surprised if Viacom/CBS contracts were in the 7-10 year range, same with the NBC/Universal networks. The more properties that can be tied to a single negotiation the longer the terms are likely to be.
Simple reason? They’re terribly complex and do take years to negotiate.
Current was in such a bind for 2 main reasons. One, they had no corporate parentage like MSNCBC, FOX and CNN. They could not be “bundled” with 5-10 sister networks. They had no leverage to negotiate terms favorable to them in dollars or duration. Two, going to the left of MSNBC and their numbers being what they were? Well, you don’t need to be much of business person to know no audience = no dollars.
How will we know when their contracts are up? Publicly I don’t know if they’ll disclose expiration dates. Current launched in 2002 and are likely in their 2nd or possibly 3rd carriage deals with satellite and cable operators. If they’re getting 10 cents per subscriber I’d be shocked.
I guarantee you if you threaten to drop if they renew providers will listen. This network is not one any cable MSO or satellite company is going to go to bat for. When they’re finally starting to take cable cord cutters seriously no way anyone is going to risk losing thousands of subscribers over this dreck.
My opinions are in no way insider, just an educated guess based on the fact that I worked in the business end of one of the regional FOX Sports channels and learned how this stuff worked.
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