The free market clearly says Al-Jazeera is popular and has a big audience in America, where people are going to view its online feeds. What else besides outright censorship is causing the major U.S. carriers (aside from Link TV) to not include this channel?
Thank God we just slapped in a Net Neutrality law or the big time ISPs might even firewall AJ-E.
Should they? No. If there’s genuine public demand, there’ll be a market for it.
Really? You can’t watch Al Jazeera on TV? I’m staggered. When I was in the US 20 years ago there were more than 100 channels on cable. I can’t imagine the choice today.
Its pretty benign TV actually. Almost like BBC lite but with a Middle East focus. I watch it occasionally but go to Fox for laughs. 
Hmmm…so much for the land of the free.
I think that would be the whole free speech is a myth thingy. The US media seems incapable of protecting the free speech rights of anyone other than the US media.
On March 4, 2003, during the run-up to the invasion of Iraq, the New York Stock Exchange banned Al Jazeera (as well as several other news organizations whose identities were not revealed) from its trading floor indefinitely, citing “security concerns” as the official reason. The move was quickly mirrored by Nasdaq stock market officials. Critics have drawn the conclusion that the Bush administration’s distaste for the station’s reporting of the invasion of Iraq was the underlying motivation. The administration has voiced such criticisms of Al Jazeera. For example, on April 27, 2004, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher, said, “On Iraq they have established a pattern of false reporting.” (WSVN)
or maybe it’s the enemy activity thingy:
On April 8, 2003 Al Jazeera’s office in Baghdad was attacked by US forces, killing reporter Tareq Ayyoub, despite the US having previously been informed of the office’s precise location, following a similar attack on the office in Kabul, Afghanistan, during the US invasion of that country.
Other than that it’s just a complete mystery.
That Huffington Post article is amazingly short of specifics.
For instance, what are its ratings in Canada now that it’s required? And not just during a crisis in Egypt, but all the time.
And when you say the Internet traffic has increased 2,500 percent, is that from 1 hit to 2,500 or is it from 1 million hits to 2.5 billion hits or maybe somewhere in between that it would make a difference to know?
It’s required here?
I don’t get it in my cable package. I’ve heard it’s available, but it’s not “Required.”
What do you mean by “U.S. Corporations”? Do you mean satellite and cable companies like Comcast and DirecTV? AFAIK, the only media outlets that they’re required to carry are the “must carry” stations mandated by the FCC (basically the local broadcast stations). After that, it’s whatever the market dictates. If enough of your customers want it, and you can obtain transmission rights for a workable price, then that’s what you’ll carry.
Why should anyone be compelled to carry Al-Jazeera (or any other television station)? It’s a niche network that some folks would like to have included in their cable package, while other customers would be pissed that their cable company includes Al-Jazeera at the expense of the Tractor-Pull Network.
Won’t matter soon anyway, IMO. It’ll all be a la carte, pay-per-station (or pay-per-view).
It’s because da jooz and izreal control the media.
Which is ironic, as I get AJ as part of my basic satellite package. We’re sneaky that way.
It’s probably a combination of three factors. Firstly carrying it wouldn’t put your network in the best graces with the feds, but anything “muslim” based right now is a political landmine in the states. Why invite trouble? Secondly, networks pay for content. They may have made nothing more than a simple financial decision that the programming isn’t worth it. Lastly, many networks only serve areas where the xenophobic local populations wouldn’t take kindly to “furriner” tv. Why alienate your customer base to make a mostly empty political gesture. Networks exist to make money, nothing more.
The OP reminds me of a newspaper article I saw when I was traveling in the Middle East some years ago. I was in a country that had the typical government-blessed English language newspaper, full of riveting stories like, “Aquaculture region expanded by 10 hectares!” or “Tin exports improve by 0.4%!”
In the paper was an article about democratic reforms in Saudi Arabia. Basically, government policies on some type of censorship were being softened, and to prove how serious the Saudis were for this initiative, a prince was quoted as saying something like, “His Majesty’s government are committed to improvements in respect of human rights, and no dissent from the government’s plan will be tolerated.”
It seems the OP’s proposal is to support freedom of the press by jamming it down everyone’s throat.
It’s not censorship if no one is preventing it. The cable/satellite providers could add AJ to their lineup right now and no one would stop them. They don’t do it because they don’t think it would be profitable in the US, or the profit would not justify the PR problems they’d anticipate. I seriously doubt the government would care, especially if there is already a wide internet audience.
Does Al-Jazeera have an English language feed? If not, that would be a major reason to not carry it on US cable.
DirecTV carries five stations as part of its Arabic-language package: Orbit Al-Yawm, Rotana Zaman, Orbit Seen, Rotana Cinema, and Rotana Moossika.
My cable company is Cox Communications, in my part of Northern Virginia, and, while I don’t have digital cable, Al Jazeera English is carried on a digital channel here. But, no, I don’t think cable companies should be forced to carry it. They’re not required to carry anything else, so why single that network out?
If I understand the article correctly (and I know nothing of Canadian cable rules myself), cable companies are required to offer it:
Al-Jazeera English is its own 24 hour news network that’s entirely in English.
That’s not completely true. Cable is subject to ‘Must Carry’ rules. I agree with you that AJ shouldn’t be on the list, though. I wish I got it, because I have noticed it being a good watch.
I don’t think that’s right. Canada gave permission for cable companies for Canadian cable companies to require it in May of 2010 (the CRTC is required to approve all non-Canadian channels before cable companies can carry them), but I don’t think they’re required to, even though most cable providers have.
A question for LJ. What exactly are you claiming in the OP? Do you feel there is a government regulation that is forbidding American cable companies from carrying Al-Jazeera and you want that regulation repealed? Or do you feel that American cable companies have banded together to boycott Al-Jazeera and you want the government to step in and make them carry it?