Time Warner Cable to carry Al Jazeera America

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Al Jazeera AmericaTime Warner Cable has signed with Al Jazeera America, giving the Qatar-owned broadcaster exposure to millions more households. The distribution deal is the first Al Jazeera America has made since its debut two months ago.


The contract is especially important for Al Jazeera because Time Warner Cable supplies television to millions of households in New York and LA, the top two markets. Al Jazeera will be added to the channel lineups in those markets this year, and in Time Warner Cable’s other markets by March, per the NY Times.

Al Jazeera America’s interim CEO Al Shihabi estimated that by Q1 next year, the network would be available in about 54 million of the 100 million American homes that subscribe to satellite and cable television, up from about 44 million homes now.

Shihabi said Al Jazeera, which features American and international news, was in “active negotiations” with other cable and satellite distributors. He said Time Warner Cable’s decision was evidence that “we are providing fact-based, in-depth, independent news.”

Al Jazeera America, like other channel owners, has sought an unspecified per-subscriber fee to be carried. But distributors are generally reluctant to add to their crowded lineups, so channels have occasionally paid to be carried. In this case, Al Jazeera may pay Time Warner Cable for marketing and ad sales support.

Al Shihabi didn’t tell The NY Times whether Al Jazeera had paid, but called the distribution deal a “win-win proposition.”

Ten months ago when Al Jazeera announced its intent to take over Current, it gave Time Warner Cable a chance to drop the low-rated Al Gore-backed channel, dealing Al Jazeera an early setback as it entered the American marketplace.

Al Jazeera America’s ratings so far have been very low, with fewer than 25,000 viewers at any time.

See the NY Times story here

21 COMMENTS

  1. Please do not add Al Jazeera America to your cable channel lineup. Please do not allow an arm of terrorism to enter the homes of Americans without a warning of their intent to make our world a Muslim world. Why offer those who detest our freedoms and would make us under Muslim power access through your cable service?

    Sincerely concerned Americans,
    Ron and Kathleen
    Tampa, FL 33609
    Cable TV customers

    • I agree with you, but TWC, like DirecTV, think of only money and not of their subscribers. BLOCK THE CHANNEL IF YOU GET IT, like we did with DirectTV. IF EVERYONE DOES THIS (BLOCK THE CHANNEL), THEY WILL GET THE MESSAGE.

  2. I am a true American and resent Time Warner carrying Al Jazeera.. This is part of the president’s plan to turn our country over to his side and go socialist.

  3. Now I’ll be dropping their cable… not worth the money anyway.

    Back to the old rooftop antenna for some PBS stations (major network channels are too crappy to watch.

  4. Please do not add Al Jezerra to Time Warner Cable. This is America. Please carry only channels that are American in origin. Any station that gets funding from overseas should not be welcome. Certainly not one that promotes or has ties to Radical Islam or terrorism.

  5. My 24 month contract with you is up. I will be leaving, as I cannot subscribe to a company that supports the Islamic agenda of forceful conversion of the world to Islam. You should be ashamed of yourselves; these people would then tell you what you could and could not broadcast. Most of your current programming would have to disappear as it would not meet the standards of Islamic Law. Wake up before it’s too late.

  6. Instead of selling packages why not let the customer choose which channels they want. Over 1/2 my channels on Dish never get watched and are useless to me,but I still pay for them. What ever happened to giving the customer what they want?

  7. While the US Constitution protects the Unalienable right of a free people to believe in whatever they might wish to believe in it does not support any race, religion, cult, organization, etc to impose their beliefs upon others. Islam with its jihad intent and policy to impliment control and Islam upon the world is in direct contradiction to the precips protected by the U S Constitution. Perhaps the intent of the separation of church and state as alluded to by Thomas Jefferson in his letter to the Danbury Baptists could be used to further this particular premise, while it is not quite so firmly established as some would believe, ie; the separation of church and state, however it is steadfsstly held that America is a Christian nation by many. It is evident however that Ameerica was in fact founded upon Christian principles. Having established this evident fact then just how would a supposedly free people accept a theocracy in opposition to the conceptual understanding of unailenable rights? Islam presents a connudrum of conflicts within itself and is totally incompatible with the concept of unailenable rights and in direct contradiction to the constitutional protections of the rights of the individual. Nowhere within the U S Constitution does it address group rights and surely not religious group rights. It is the individual right to accept, to deny, and when necessary to rebel against oppression. Islam is contradictory to the premise of self government and the rights of the individual.

  8. Since Bright House is part of Time Warner cable, my daughter( lives separately) and I will be cancelling our subscription in a month unless I hear that you are dropping the enemies network. To let a network on that supports terrorism is something I can;t handle. We both have lots of friends who will be doing the same.

  9. I dropped them the minute they made the announcement. Time-Warner has just slapped every American in the face, so it’s time to slap Time-Warner in their bottom line.

  10. Am assuming that you did not take much consideration in your selection of this network that only cares about their agenda, to destroy America & make it a Muslim nation. Do hope you will come to your senses & reconsider where your loyalties lie & what made this country as great as it is.

  11. Al Jazeera is not a Muslim channel. It is not in existence to promote the Islamic belief system. It’s a secular news channel that has covered much relevant news from a perspective often missing from US based channels, and gives interesting insight into the Arabic world. The channel’s depth of coverage in middle east affairs has won praise from across the political spectrum.

    Let’s break it down. Al Jazeera is not a religious channel. All Arabs are not Muslims. And in America, people still have the right to be Muslim. So your complaints and fear of this channel that is simply another view on world events and news coverage is small minded and baseless. Think before you post.

    • All the terrorists are Muslims, and if there are some who are not, they are not fighting the terrorist, not saving the people who are being slaughtered in the name of Allahu Akhbar. Chris Stevens, you are very naive and know nothing about Islamic history. Since 624 AD, they have been killing people, and enslaving and converting whoever’s left. How does 270 million people killed for Allah over 14 centuries, and still no end in sight. They are overtaking Europe; Sweden, once peaceful, is now the rape capital of the world. They must not be permitted to take over our land…we have seen their violence here (where’ve you been?). Al Jazeera doesn’t have to be a religious channel; they only have to reap profits from our country to Hamas all over the world, and support their violence. Look at the Middle East where the people were once Assyrians, Pharoans, Zoroastrians, Christians, Copts, Hindus…most of the M E is now Muslim…where’d they go, Chris? Conquered! Living as they did in the 7th century, in poverty, ignorance, with violence, women enslaved with few rights. It’s time for you to learn something, and the sooner the better.

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