Through Egypt, Al Jazeera English has an American moment

As White House officials monitor the chaotic developments in Egypt, many television sets in the West Wing are tuned to Al Jazeera English, the sister channel of the popular Arabic-language news network.

But that's one of the few places in the United States where people can watch the Doha, Qatar-based Al Jazeera English on television. Four years after its launch, the network's reach is largely limited to Washington, Toledo, Ohio, and Burlington, Vt. — the result of its inability to secure deals with major cable and satellite operators.

Washingon, Toledo Ohio, & Burlington Vermont? That's it? I don't know about you folks but I was glued to Aljazeera Live last week.

American viewers have flocked to its website as it provides a nonstop live stream of its television feed. Traffic is up 2,500% since Friday, with nearly half of it coming from the United States, according to network officials.

I see that I wasn't the only one.

Listen up Time Warner and Comcast. The American people want their Aljazeera. Let me rephrase that. YOUR CUSTOMERS want Aljazeera. So what is your response to your customers?

Time Warner and Comcast declined to comment Monday on whether they would be interested in carrying Al Jazeera English.

Wait, what? No comment?!! "...whether THEY would be interested.." !!? Who cares if THEY are interested or not. The customer wants Aljazeera. You're nothing with out the customer. NOTHING. ZERO.

I just cancelled my 200+ channels of mindless circus acts and celebrity worship. I hope many will follow my lead. I like watching Link TV and sports occasionally so I may order again in the future, IF, and only IF, THEY listen to the people and give them what they pay for, in this case, real news coverage.

Source

i watch it on my phone sometimes im surprised the cable company's dont carry also. if they let fox news on why not this

Originally posted by pez1975
i watch it on my phone sometimes im surprised the cable company's dont carry also. if they let fox news on why not this

Fox News seems drastically different to me.

Of course I only see clips of Fox News on ATS, so I may be wrong.

Years ago I was at a friends house and caught a few minutes of Bill O'Reilly's show.

He was rambling about a pinhead or something, very pompous.

I was so disgusted by what he said that I made a vow never to watch that channel or visit it's website.

I check out their website almost daily.
Seems to be fair and balanced...

And if I want a good laugh I'll visit and read PressTV and haaretz

I agree with you- it seems pretty ridiculous that they wouldn't broadcast Al-Jazeera, especially when now it would be a very good business move, due to it's popularity, as you reference. We have it here in the UK, so I really don't understand where their defence lies- it's just censorship. As has been said, it's typically a very fair/reasonably impartial service, as well as being very informative. A big thumbs down for whoever is making/has made this decision!