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Comcast is to be applauded - it has decided against giving Al-Jazeera distribution. This denies a platform for radical Islamists to preach jihad to U.S. citizens, at least for the moment.
LONDON -- Al-Jazeera Intl. has all but conceded defeat in its effort to gain U.S. distribution in time for its worldwide launch Wednesday.
Execs at the nascent English-language offshoot of the Arab broadcaster said Comcast Communications pulled the plug on talks Monday on a deal the net considered essential to gaining a beachhead in the U.S.
...Sources within AJI speculated the reasons for the pullout had to do with U.S. uncertainty about Al-Jazeera's editorial agenda.
...But Comcast denied the decision had anything to do with politics. "It comes down to a capacity question. We're not adding a lot of new channels," said Comcast spokeswoman Jenni Moyer.
As of last week, Al-Jazeera reportedly also was in talks with Cox Communications, but those won't come to fruition before Wednesday.
Al-Jazeera also had hoped to get carriage on one of the two major satellite TV operators, DirecTV or Dish Network. Dish wants to carry AJI on its Arab-language tier, where it carries the Arabic Al-Jazeera. DirecTV doesn't carry either net, but said it is "keeping options open."
It is to be hoped that no other company will give Al-Jazeera a platform from which to spread a pro-Jihadist message.
