Al Jazeera tries using Web to crack N. American cable market

20.02.2009

Just in case there are other reasons AJE might not be finding favor, IWantAJE.net features a mythbuster page that corrects erroneous beliefs about the network. It claims that the station is not merely an English translation of Al Jazeera Arabic and it has never aired a beheading.

Visitors to the site are given the opportunity to send an e-mail directly to their local cable or satellite provider requesting that AJE be picked up. So far only two local cable companies in the U.S., Buckeye Cable in Toledo, Ohio, and Burlington Cable in Burlington, Vermont, carry it. Subscribers to international satellite provider Globecast also can watch the channel on their televisions. PBS' WorldFocus and DISH and DIRECTV air selected AJE programs.

The only place on the Web where a live uninterrupted broadcast of Al Jazeera English can be seen is at . However, thousands of individual reports can be seen on on YouTube, where AJE says it is the most popular news channel.

AJE says it has received awards from YouTube, the Monte-Carlo TV Festival and Amnesty International, and has received two Emmy nominations for international news and current affairs.