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NY Times

Cable Channel to Shut Down

Jan 13, 2016  •  Post A Comment

A cable news channel will shut down by the end of April. The New York Times reports that plans to shut down Al Jazeera America were announced today at a companywide meeting. The channel has been on the air since 2013.

The report quotes a memo to staffers from Al Jazeera America Chief Executive Al Anstey in which he says the “decision by Al Jazeera America’s board is driven by the fact that our business model is simply not sustainable in light of the economic challenges in the U.S. media marketplace.”

The report notes that the channel never attracted much of an audience, “with prime-time ratings sometimes struggling to exceed 30,000 viewers.” The Times adds: “To make matters worse, the newsroom was hit with turmoil last year when staff members complained bitterly of a culture of fear. There was an exodus of top executives, along with a pair of lawsuits from former employees that included complaints about sexism and anti-Semitism at the news channel.”

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4 Comments

  1. One of the first incomprehensible moves was to cancel Joy Behar and the other comic(John Fugelsang)’s great shows on Current, during the switch to Al-J. Those were well received and scored well in ratings for Current. A shame another news voice is going at least here in the U.S. Will someone rebrand it or is just leaving airwaves entirely here?

  2. Agreed that it’s sad to lose an independent news channel — independent, at least, as compared to all other US broadcasters, which are controlled by just a handful of media conglomerates.

  3. I’m shocked, shocked!

  4. Will this reduce my cable bill?

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