Source : Globe & Mail

Spanning the globe with high-definition broadcast centres in Washington, London, Kuala Lumpur and Doha, Qatar, al-Jazeera English is finally set to launch today, taking CNN and the BBC head-on. It's the new English-language offspring of the Arabic news network, which has itself been prominently in the news, with American groups such as the Accuracy in the Media calling it "terror television" while, according to al-Jazeera, it has been referred to by some Arab critics as part of an "American conspiracy" to tear "apart the Arab ranks."

Yet with today's intense media interest in al-Jazeera English and the unflagging fortunes of the emir of Qatar reportedly pumping tens of millions of dollars into the operation, it's all a world away for most Canadians, since major Canadian cable companies are not expected to pick up the network any time soon.

Even in other countries around the world with much larger Muslim populations, such as Indonesia and Malaysia, many have been wondering when or if al-Jazeera English would ever air.

The network has suffered a string of delays, pushing the launch from last spring to some time earlier this fall and now, finally, today. Outfitting the new studios and linking them with state-of-the-art electronics has taken longer than expected. Yet while the network was originally expected to reach 30 million to 40 million households worldwide, al-Jazeera English is now estimating 70 million to 80 million households will have access to the network.

Speculation has been rife, however, that the 10-year-old parent network has reined in the editorial independence of its international offshoot. Rumours were particularly rampant in August when the former editor of BBC Breakfast, Paul Gibbs, was fired as director of programming. And while spokespeople stressed that the new network is independent, al-Jazeera's director-general, Wadah Khanfar, has described as a similar news "spirit" between the English and Arabic networks.

Then there have been the legion of new hires. Former BBC host David Frost has been al-Jazeera English's biggest catch. His first interview is rumoured to be with Tony Blair, although an al-Jazeera spokeswoman yesterday couldn't confirm that. Then there's the staff of 500 or so, including Canadians such as ABC News London correspondent Richard Gizbert, former CBC sportscaster Brendan Connor and the former Washington reporter for Global TV, Kimberly Halkett.

So why won't this be carried by Canadian cable providers?

"As a Canadian, this is one of my biggest disappointments that on launch day, people who I know are hungry for this product are not going to be able to see it. But that, I know, is going to change," Halkett said from the Washington bureau.

Al-Jazeera English will be available as downloadable clips and streaming live video from the network will be available on its Internet site. And many Arab Canadians currently access Arabic al-Jazeera by satellite. Presumably these satellites might also carry al-Jazeera English.

Yet no cable television companies in Canada have applied to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission to carry the network. And no major carriers are rushing to get the paperwork ready. It stems back to a 2004 CRTC ruling allowing the Arabic al-Jazeera network to be broadcast in Canada, but which imposed such tight restrictions that cable companies have been unwilling to pick it up.

The CRTC held cable carriers responsible for blocking "any abusive comment." As a CRTC spokeswoman explained, the criteria for what is abusive are largely determined by what viewers might later complain about to regulators.

And in order to carry al-Jazeera English, Canadian cable companies now have to go through the entire application process again for the new network. Rogers, Shaw and Vidéotron have given no indication that they are proceeding with an application. And a Vidéotron spokeswoman said that her company has not received a request from the network to make an application.

© Globe and Mail