The Sale of Current TV

[Lostenso]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/11/jon-stewart-al-gore-al-jazeera-fox-boner-alert_n_2455801.html

The video says it all. Enjoy!

If you work at Fox News, any headline that has both "Al Gore" and "Al Jazeera" in it has to be a good one. So when the former Vice President decided to sell his struggling news network, Current TV, to Al Jazeera, it had to have been like Christmas all over again in the Fox & Friends studio.

Jon Stewart picked apart the conservative network's reaction to the news, giving them credit where limited credit was due, but also turning the tables on their "un-American" conspiracy theories and revealing Rupert Murdoch's ties to another problematic Middle East news outlet. Watch the clip above.

[krome2ez]

Just like a lib to twist the story.

Media

Al Gore’s Current TV Rebuffs Advances by TheBlaze,

Agrees to Sell Channel to Al Jazeera

Posted on January 2, 2013 at 5:39pm by Madeleine Morgenstern Print »Email »

Comments (226)TheBlaze’s Jason Howerton and Billy Hallowell contributed to this report.

AP

Seeking to expand its presence in American television, al-Jazeera, the Qatar-owned news network, has agreed to buy Al Gore’s low-rated Current TV, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Financial terms of the deal weren’t disclosed, but a person familiar with the matter said al-Jazeera paid a few hundred million dollars for Current TV. The network, which was co-founded by Mr. Gore and entrepreneur Joel Hyatt in 2005, has recently been struggling with low ratings.

The multimillion dollar deal came after Current rebuffed TheBlaze when it approached the network about buying the channel last year. According to a source close to the negotiations, officials at TheBlaze were told that “the legacy of who the network goes to is important to us and we are sensitive to networks not aligned with our point of view.”

An executive for TheBlaze confirmed these details on Thursday, noting that the decision not to sell to Beck’s network came only hours after executives reached out to a Current representative to discuss the matter. As reported by the Wall Street Journal, Hyatt said that the decision to go with the Middle Easter outlet came, in part, because, “al-Jazeera was founded with the same goals we had for Current.”

This admission on the part of Current clearly shows that the network aligns itself with al-Jazeera — at least when it comes to goals and aspirations — something critics will likely question. As the AP noted, Dave Marash, a former “Nightline” reporter who worked for the network for a time, left in 2008 after sensing an anti-American bias.

.

A source close to negotiations also told The New York Times that the deal was probably worth around $500 million, meaning a $100 million pay-day for Gore, who was reportedly eager to complete the deal by Dec. 31 in order to avoid higher tax rates that took effect on Jan. 1.

Unfortunately for Gore, the deal wasn’t signed until Wednesday, however.

WSJ has more details:

Al-Jazeera, which is owned by the government of Qatar, became famous in the U.S. about a decade ago when its Arabic-language outlet aired videos of Osama bin Laden in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks. Since then the English-language version of the channel, which is available online in the U.S. and on TV in a few cities, has gained plaudits for its international coverage.

The purchase of Current TV could give al-Jazeera national cable distribution in the U.S., something it has been seeking for years. But al-Jazeera doesn’t plan to replace Current TV with its English-language channel. Instead it will create a new channel, al-Jazeera America, and will “invest significantly” in new programming, Mr. Hyatt wrote in a note to Current TV staff announcing the deal. The channel will be based in New York and expand al-Jazeera’s U.S. staff to more than 300, the company said in an announcement.

Not all cable operators are on board with the change. Time Warner Cable Inc., the second-largest cable operator, said late Wednesday it was dropping Current TV. The network’s owners acknowledged the deal was the reason.

News of the pending deal was first reported by The New York Times. Executives from al-Jazeera and Current did not immediately comment to the New York Times.

Current CEO Joel Hyatt confirmed in October that they were considering selling the 7-year-old network, which has long suffered from poor viewership.

Current’s programming line-up includes Eliot Spitzer, Jennifer Granholm and Joy Behar. Former MSNBC host Keith Olbermann was fired from the channel in March after less than a year.

This story has been updated.

http://www.theblaze....res-current-tv/

Read more:

Current TV Staffers

Not Happy About Being Sold to Al Jazeera

by Warner Todd Huston 8 Jan 2013 184post a comment

Al Gore may have gotten a multi-million dollar payday from his new friends at Al Jazeera, but his Current TV employees don't seem very excited about being sold to the Qatar-based network.

Current TV employees were called to an early staff meeting in San Francisco and via teleconference at the New York and Los Angeles offices in order to be introduced to their new Al Jazeera bosses.

Ehab Al Shihabi, executive director of Al Jazeera's international operations, and Muftah Al Suwaidan, general manager of the London bureau, were in attendance; so was Al Gore's partner, Joel Hyatt. But Al Gore, Current TV's global warming-pushing star, was nowhere to be seen.

"Of course Al didn’t show up," one staffer grumbled. "He has no credibility."

Gore has been pushing his global warming snake oil for years now and has always done so in the offices of Current TV. But staffers feel Gore is "nothing but a bulls***ter" for having sold his stake in the cable network to some of the biggest oil producers in the world.

Some staffers are reported as having been disgusted by Gore's insistence that the network play up stories about how great Obama's tax hikes were going to be, yet Gore himself made sure to get his monumental payday before all those tax increases went into effect.

Already two of the flailing network's putative "stars" have announced they are leaving their shows. Former Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm was the first to announce she was leaving. This week it was Eliot Spitzer's turn to announce his departure.

Al Jazeera's top men say that they'll be taking over programming in April. The plan will be to "inform, inspire and entertain."

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Journalism/2013/01/08/Gore-s-TV-Staffers-Not-Happy-About-Being-Sold-to-Al-Jazeera

Edited January 11, 2013 by krome2ez

[Lostenso]

Just like a lib to twist the story.

You're going to say this and then counter with articles from Breitbart and Theblaze?! Hahah, give me a break! Thanks for the good laugh though.

Cheers

[eastcreek]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/11/jon-stewart-al-gore-al-jazeera-fox-boner-alert_n_2455801.html

The video says it all. Enjoy!

If you work at Fox News, any headline that has both "Al Gore" and "Al Jazeera" in it has to be a good one. So when the former Vice President decided to sell his struggling news network, Current TV, to Al Jazeera, it had to have been like Christmas all over again in the Fox & Friends studio.

Jon Stewart picked apart the conservative network's reaction to the news, giving them credit where limited credit was due, but also turning the tables on their "un-American" conspiracy theories and revealing Rupert Murdoch's ties to another problematic Middle East news outlet. Watch the clip above.

Does your name mean "lost your senses?" That's what your post says about you. :P/>

[dog53]

When I look at Al Gore I get creeped out man. There`s something about him that just makes my skin crawl.

Absolutly nothing to do with the topic . Just thought I would share. I think UNEEK is getting to me

[Lostenso]

Does your name mean "lost your senses?" That's what your post says about you. :P/>/>

Actually it's just a combination of my name.

[krome2ez]

You're going to say this and then counter with articles from Breitbart and Theblaze?! Hahah, give me a break! Thanks for the good laugh though.

Cheers

Are you OK with Gore,

who is nearly worth a billion dollars from the Global Warming farce,

making a $100 million from the oil rich Al Jazeera?

Does this not bother you?

It does other libs.

The hypocrisy is what's laughable.

Al Jazeera has ties to al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations.

Does this not bother you?

This is what bothers me.

No, what bothers you is Fox News.

What a worthy cause you support.

[skitealwedrop]

Current TV was an informative channel several years ago. I was a fan and watched many documentaries that were produced by young and brilliant journalists. The documentaries provided important substance about global issues to the viewers. Gore is a sell out! He could have found other investors to buy out his share in the channel. I will never view Current TV again. I would be surprised if the cable providers in the US continue to air the channel.

[Farwould]

Good job Lostenso I like Al Gore.Global warming is real because where I live it hasnt even reached

35 degrees yet its 66 today in january wheres the cold if it isnt real? 2 years in a row without a freeze

some must be so young that they just dont notice like a old man does which is me.

Global warming is real I miss repairing busted pipe from the freeze and shoveling the walk way

And if you dont think it gets hot here in houston during the summer come vacation here during

june july and august mixed with 80%humidity its lovely.Its why most BBQ you dont want to turn

on that oven in the house.Everytime someone pours a slab of concrete thats one more spot heat

cant escape.What do I know right.Thank You for the article Lostenso.