Time Warner Cable and Al Jazeera America have struck a carriage
agreement, and the 24-hour news network will roll out on digital basic
in TWC and Bright House systems over the next six months.
When Current TV migrated to Al Jazeera America, Time Warner Cable did not extend its Current agreement to the new channel.
TWC
had said all along it was seriously considering carrying the channel.
The channel should be in New York and LA by the end of the year and the
rest by March.
Terms were not disclosed but the deal puts the channel in about 55 million homes, according to the companies.
Al Jazeera struck a deal back in January to buy Current TV and remake it into a 24-hour news network, which launched in August."We
said in January that we would consider Al Jazeera America. Now that the
channel is live, we think that it would be of value to our customers
and are pleased to make it available," said Melinda Witmer, EVP, chief
video and content officer for Time Warner Cable.
"It has
been a pleasure working with TWC over the past few months as their
executives evaluated our programming and commitment to fact-based, in
depth reporting," said Ehab Al Shihabi, Al Jazeera America's Interim
CEO, in announcing the deal. "We appreciate the vote of confidence that
Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks have given to our brand of
unbiased journalism and look forward to working with them as Al Jazeera
America continues to grow."
