Current TV Reportedly To Be Purchased By Al Jazeera, Programming To Be ‘Dissolved’

The New York Times’ Brian Stelter is reporting on Wednesday that the news network Al Jazeera is in the final steps of taking over the progressive cable news network Current TV. Current, founded by former Vice President Al Gore and his partners in 2005, has never been able to secure a large audience. “If the deal is completed, Current will provide the pan-Arab news giant with something it has sought for years: a pathway into American living rooms,” Stelter reports.

Al Jazeera will not use Current TV as a network to rebroadcast its English language programming. Rather, the Doha-based network will create a New York City-based line up of programming and will potentially brand that content “Al Jazeera America”:

Current is hard to find on many cable lineups, and some analysts believe it’s at risk of losing carriage in some homes due to low ratings, but it would give Al Jazeera a foothold on the country’s cable and satellite service lineups. Then Al Jazeera could rebrand the channel and promote it as a new American-based news source.

Current TV’s staff will probably be rehired by Al Jazeera, but most of Current’s present lineup of programs will cease broadcasting in the spring of 2013.

Read the full report in the New York Times

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