Comments on: Se Vende Al Jazeera

By: richard mcenroe

richard mcenroe — Mon, 31 Jan 2005 14:13:16 +0000

Hey, you block Cinemax at Night, Spice and the Playboy Channel and there goes 90% of your revenue…

By: AisA

AisA — Mon, 31 Jan 2005 11:33:51 +0000

Is anyone really surprised that a government run business is not profitable?

I believe there are a other examples of government run business that have a hard time making money even as monopolies: the U.S. Post Office, for instance, who has an absolute, legal monopoly on the delivery of old fashioned snail mail in a market of 290 million people.

By: Terrye

Terrye — Mon, 31 Jan 2005 10:21:08 +0000

paying off terrorists ain’t cheap.

By: David Thomson

David Thomson — Mon, 31 Jan 2005 09:32:16 +0000

I find this report bordering on the bizarre. How does an owner not earn vast profits when your media outlet has this many viewers? It is my understanding that Al Jazeera has a virtual monopoly. Am I mistaken? Could it be that advertisers are afraid to offend the rulers in their own countries?

By: Scott Ferguson

Scott Ferguson — Mon, 31 Jan 2005 09:24:02 +0000

Interesting article, Roger. There could be a couple of reasons the unnamed Quatar official is saying Al Jazeera is not profitable. The obvious reason is that most of the world’s major consumer goods companies who could afford the network’s reach don’t want to be associated with such a stinky channel; but I couldn’t confirm this without seeing what kind of advertisers use it.

Then again, this “Quatar official” may just be trying to save face by claiming unprofitibility. He doesn’t want to say, “Yes, it is making money, but the United States is using its diplomatic channels to threaten us with all kinds of stuff I can’t talk about, so basically we’re caving.”

By: Final Historian

Final Historian — Mon, 31 Jan 2005 05:16:21 +0000

“but that the hugely popular (30 to 50 million viewers) Arab cable network is not profitable.

”

Perhaps it is because of all the Arab politicians they have to bribe?