Does anyone know if cable carriers in the US don't carry AJ because of lack of demand or is there documented evidence of active exclusion for business or political reasons?
Please don't take this question as conspiracy theory flame bait. I'm just curious about what is known about this.
Let me put it this way- If I were running a cable company, and I had to make a pure business decision on whether to carry AJE, I wouldn't do it. People were up in arms over a "mosque" several blocks away the WTC site...People were outraged at our President's middle name. there would be a HUGE uproar if cable operators started broadcasting "muslim propaganda" in our homes. I'm talking mass boycotts.
If we had a la carte cable, they'd offer what they seriously thought people would specifically seek out and buy. FOX News is a shoo-in, but PBS and Al Jazeera would be much riskier bets.
If that's the case, then why don't they do that now? Carrying less channels would reduce costs, while raising the price would increase profit. One would think that we wouldn't have to force them to move in that direction it what you say is true.
When the cable industry itself says that that's going to happen, I tend to believe that they will make it happen.[1]
"# Forcing cable operators to sell each channel separately (a la carte) would reduce the size of the potential audience for each channel, adversely affecting a network’s ability to attract the same level of advertising dollars. Networks would also incur much higher marketing costs to persuade customers to purchase their programming. As networks lose the advertising revenues that make up the bulk of their programming and operating budgets and face higher marketing costs, they would need to increase the license fees paid by cable operators in order to continue to deliver high quality and diverse programming.
# These higher license fees would be reflected in higher retail cable prices. To the extent that customers were unwilling to pay the higher a la carte prices for certain networks, those networks would have no choice but to reduce the quality and attractiveness of their programming or go out of business."
Also:
"Mandatory a la carte could cause the demise of many existing basic programming services and hinder the creation of new ones, reducing choice and diversity."
I don't usually parrot industry group talking points. However, in this case, we're debating about what the cable industry would do if a la carte were forced on them, and I think they've already answered that question.
The fact that it's owned by the Qatari government probably wouldn't help things either. Not only is it Middle Eastern, but it's controlled by a foreign government.
The section "Turning On" describes the process that led Buckeye Cable System in Ohio to start carrying Al Jazeera. I think it directly addresses your question.
Tribalism in politics leads to identity politics rather than governance politics. I grew up in Lebanon where there is no single religious majority. Political discourse has mostly been about how different factions (sunni, shia, maronite christian, orthodox christians, etc.) should be represented within the ruling coalition. Deadlocks are common and appropriation of ministries is mostly based on sectarian identity rather than competence. Discourse is rarely about fiscal, educational, or health policy. I think a similar unhealthy situation can exist within open source projects or professional organizations.
I keep the client running in the background (not even minimized). I have it set to save a log of all chats. I occasionally glance through those logs 2-3 times during the day. That's also the same frequency with which I check my mail.
That's a mis-representation. You cannot get get more mainstream than Ha'aretz. I think this is a sign that Israeli society is more capable of having honest conversation about it's government action than you are willing to admit.
Everybody and their mother is talking about this in that part of the world. It's NOT Twitter's duty to explain why it's not trending. But, given the sensitivity of the topic, it would be sensitive/nice from them to explain why.
Please don't take this question as conspiracy theory flame bait. I'm just curious about what is known about this.