Al Jazeera English $

[Martyn]

I just did a periodic scan of 97W and notice a second Al Jazeera English channel scans in a scrambled.

12152 H 20000
Al Jazeera English : V4025, A4035, P4025
Al Jazeera English $ : V4030, A4040, P4030

It could be the new Al Jazeera America with an incorrect name, or perhaps something else.

The launch date of AJA is supposed to be around August 20 to 25 and a recent story in The Guardian suggested that at least the idea had been floated that it should be a US news channel, with little or nothing from AJE.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jul/14/al-jazeera-marwan-bishara-email?INTCMP=SRCH

I just hope we don't lose AJE.

 

[FaT Air]

Interesting. Will have to keep an eye on it. Hope we don't lose anything.

 

[Martyn]

Al Jazeera just announced an August 20 launch for the new network.

It will also be interesting to see who they rely on for breaking news video from across the U.S.

Unless they ally with Network News Service (I have no idea how likely or possible that is), then are they stuck with AP? Reuters is mostly NBC-sourced for local and breaking coverage outside of New York and DC, and that's all embargoed domestically. A direct tie with NBC seems improbable because of competition to MSNBC.

We are likely to see more Al Jazeera live shots and feeds as they put live reports into the new channel. They used 91W for coverage of the SFO plane crash earlier this month. I didn't watch enough to see if that was for Al Jazeera English or for feeds of tests for the new channel.

 

[northgeorgia]

I also suspect 91W for feeds...in addition to the SFO crash, I had seen a few other feeds with the name (again, I didn't pay attention if it was for AJE as I had assumed, or just testing). However, when the military takeover happened in Egypt recently, ABC News One just ran a live feed of Al Jazeera English (so I just switched to 97W to keep watching). It all makes me think that their feeds will be up on this bird, too. Wow, 91W will be really hopping (as if it weren't already).

 

[Mr Tony]

Al Jazeera just announced an August 20 launch for the new network.

They bought Al Gore's network "Current"

Current Media is owned by the Qatar-based broadcaster Al Jazeera, which announced its acquisition on January 2, 2013.[3][4][5] Al Jazeera has stated that it plans on shutting down the Current TV channel, retaining its off-air staff and launching a new New York-based channel called Al Jazeera America using Current's distribution network.

 

[Martyn]

They bought Al Gore's network "Current"

Right. The new TV network will be based in New York and its online ops from the Current TV building in San Francisco. They're planning something like 10 to 15 bureaus across the country, which I think outnumbers CNN and the other major networks (excluding the affiliate stations).

They have the money for sure, the big unknown now is the type of channel it will be. A version of AJE with more US news and US shows, or a much stronger focus on a US audience with little AJE shows and more of the glitz typically seen on US news.

People won't be happy either way and it'll be interesting to see where this lands in a year or two.

The Guardian story is interesting, albeit with the caveat that it's based on one memo from an unhappy staffer.

 

[northgeorgia]

Maybe they'll keep both FTA. *cross fingers*

 

[TRG]

AJ isn’t something that I watch but I'm all for keeping as much programming FTA as possible.

 

[DJdish]

I hope AlJazeera is on FTA, (I dont´believe Al Jazeera English will suffer any change with the new AJ).

I understand the launch date is not set in stone yet, August 20 is mentioned.

I am following up their news on the net, and they are still hiring people and coming up with formats, etc. They have already recruited people who have been previously on CNN, ABC, you name it.

 

[xtgold]

viaccess encrypted

 

[Joe Capitano]

A bit of bad news here. As from this Thursday (Aug. 8), Al Jazeera English will be removed from Globecast WorldTV (per the latter's website). Further, AJE's internet stream will be geoblocked in the USA once AJ America launches, if not sooner. You can blame the Cable Gods for that.

 

[toucan-man]

So they are saying goodbye to those who were their loyal supporters for all these years, all that time when the Cable Gods deemed them untouchables. May this plan backfire rapidly...

 

[wallyhts]

Yup the only person How made out good were the sellers. This channel will run into big big trouble when carriage agreements come up. If they really wanted to make a go change your name. Too many people HATE the current name.

 

[Blindowl1234]

So I missed something...are we also losing the Al Jazeera channel we always had on 97W? or just not going to get Al Jaz America?

 

[northgeorgia]

The way it sounds, according to Joe Capitano's post, the Al Jazeera channel that's always been up on 97W is going away "after" August 8. The fact that they are already carrying an encrypted Al Jazeera English, as the OP posted, may suggest World TV will carry Al Jazeera America as a subscription channel. I will miss Al Jazeera English. Bad move on their part. Maybe after a few months of failure they will quickly return to their old format -- but I doubt it.

Maybe we should have seen the writing on the wall: http://www.kzyx.org/index.php/stati...gers-blog/entry/al-jazeera-is-going-away-soon

 

[cyberham]

Are you sure? Or does this mean that distributor Globecast World TV no longer will offer AJ in their packages? However, anybody who receives 97W FTA independently direct from the satellite (most of us?) can still receive the usual AJ.

 

[northgeorgia]

A.J.E. is uplinked directly by Globecast/World TV, and the notice is in all caps on their page, so I would expect the channel to go dark unless they contract out with another uplink provider and move transponders. The A.J.E. website doesn't mention anything about this (other than an welcome popup asking you to sign up and be informed about the launch of A.J. America). However, that doesn't mean much since they are claiming you can still get their channel FTA on 30W (and I've never seen it there in the nine months I've gotten that satellite). But I hope you're right and we'll still be able to get the station.

 

[Keith Brannen]

A.J.E. is uplinked directly by Globecast/World TV, and the notice is in all caps on their page, so I would expect the channel to go dark unless they contract out with another uplink provider and move transponders. The A.J.E. website doesn't mention anything about this (other than an welcome popup asking you to sign up and be informed about the launch of A.J. America). However, that doesn't mean much since they are claiming you can still get their channel FTA on 30W (and I've never seen it there in the nine months I've gotten that satellite). But I hope you're right and we'll still be able to get the station.

A.J.E. is on 30W, unfortunately on a transponder that is beamed to Europe only. Would be nice if it got added to a North America beam, but I believe we are going to be screwed yet again, unlike the rest of the world!

 

[cyberham]

A.J.E. is uplinked directly by Globecast/World TV...

OK, I see. I didn't know Globecast did the uplink. I thought somebody else uplinked and maybe Globecast just paid them to use their channels but made their profit by providing convenient packages to non-technical subscribers. This is not good. AJ on 97W is in my #1 slot since I watch it the most on that satellite. Although KTV2 is outpacing them lately with their MOVIES content.

In this case, maybe Canadian residents won't get geoblocked on the Internet. In which case...I can be bribed with spare quality coaxial cable people may have laying around.

 

[Jim S.]

CCTV didn't go away when they got added to Dish Network. RT didn't go away when they got added to Dish Network. RTPi didn't go away when they got added to Dish Network (for an obscene monthly fee to the subscriber too, unlike the others.) So I wonder what AJE's particular problem is? Is it just because they've started up a different channel? If so, what are we to expect from their new channel? 50% commercials?