Al-Jazeera English suffers last-minute hitch with US distribution

Media Guardian reports that Al-Jazeera English (AJE) has suffered a last-minute hitch with its planned distribution in the US.

The last-minute name change from the expected
Al-Jazeera International took even the staff by surprise, and the exact reason isn’t yet clear.

ComCast reportedly withdrew from talks yesterday, leaving al-Jazeera without access to its 24.1 million subscribers.

ComCast is also the biggest provider in Detroit, which has the largest Arab-American population in the US. Sources at Al-Jazeera suspect that ComCast was nervous about carrying the channel, given the political sensitivity of its Iraq coverage, but ComCast denies that and inists the decision is down to a lack of capacity, rather than politics. However, the idea that ComCast would suddenly discover a lack of capacity just 48 hours ahead of launch seems implausible.

Viewers in Europe who want to watch AJE are in better luck. The station will launch tomorrow at 1200 UTC, and amongst other things it will be on the Sky platform in the UK and Ireland at 514 on the Electronic Programme Guide.

There has been some bad publicity for the British staff of AJE ahead of tomorrow’s launch. London’s Evening Standard reports that staff hired earlier this year and based in Doha have been spending their time waiting for the delayed launch by drinking excessively.

The Emir of Qatar, says the newspaper, personally ordered them to go on a “cultural awareness” training course, to learn how to behave in a Muslim country. The behaviour of the Brits is said to have caused tension between them and their Arab colleagues.

Source: Media Network

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