You all have probably heard -- Al Gore, former VP and presidential candidate, Academy Award winner, climate change gadfly, and creepy masseuse masher -- personally grossed $100 million from the sale of the Current TV channel to...
...Al Jazeera.
http://www.adweek.com/news/television/cu...era-146227
Of course, the ironies come thick and fast on this one.
First, Al Jazeera, as we all know, has been funded by Qatar whose riches came from....FOSSIL FUELS!! The same fossil fuels that Climate Al finds so troubling.
Second, Democrat Al Gore, a 1 percenter if there ever was one, apparently tried to get the deal done before the New Year so he would not be affected by the higher capital gains tax rate. Alas, poor Al wanted to avoid paying his "fair share." Alas, couldn't get it done.
Third, the stories are floating around that Glenn Beck -- the mormon conservative talk show host -- took a run at buying Current TV but was told that "the legacy of who the network goes to is important to us and we are sensitive to networks not aligned with our point of view," according to a source familiar with the negotiations.
http://www.examiner.com/article/glenn-be...-tv-to-him
Hmm...so al Jazeera is "aligned" with Al's point of view. Um, OK.
Now, I will admit -- al Jazeera has a complex relationship in the media world. Sure it's pissed off many of the authoritarian regimes -- a good thing -- but at the same time its sympathies for certain Jihadist strains is undeniable (done, no doubt, in the "spirit" of telling "both sides of the story.")
Anyway, this deal is highway robbery by Gore and his partners. (al Jazeera is "aligned with Gore's interests" all right--the interest of lining his pockets). The strategic plan apparently is to dump the Current TV lineup disaster and use the cable distribution to feed al Jazeera programming into the USA.
Good fuckin' luck with that. Time Warner Cable has already said it will not carry the new and improved Current. Watch other cable providers fall into line.
al Jazeera may have spent $500 mill for a whole lot of nothing.
But then again, Al's major talent has been to convince other people that nothing IS something.
...Al Jazeera.
http://www.adweek.com/news/television/cu...era-146227
Of course, the ironies come thick and fast on this one.
First, Al Jazeera, as we all know, has been funded by Qatar whose riches came from....FOSSIL FUELS!! The same fossil fuels that Climate Al finds so troubling.
Second, Democrat Al Gore, a 1 percenter if there ever was one, apparently tried to get the deal done before the New Year so he would not be affected by the higher capital gains tax rate. Alas, poor Al wanted to avoid paying his "fair share." Alas, couldn't get it done.
Third, the stories are floating around that Glenn Beck -- the mormon conservative talk show host -- took a run at buying Current TV but was told that "the legacy of who the network goes to is important to us and we are sensitive to networks not aligned with our point of view," according to a source familiar with the negotiations.
http://www.examiner.com/article/glenn-be...-tv-to-him
Hmm...so al Jazeera is "aligned" with Al's point of view. Um, OK.
Now, I will admit -- al Jazeera has a complex relationship in the media world. Sure it's pissed off many of the authoritarian regimes -- a good thing -- but at the same time its sympathies for certain Jihadist strains is undeniable (done, no doubt, in the "spirit" of telling "both sides of the story.")
Anyway, this deal is highway robbery by Gore and his partners. (al Jazeera is "aligned with Gore's interests" all right--the interest of lining his pockets). The strategic plan apparently is to dump the Current TV lineup disaster and use the cable distribution to feed al Jazeera programming into the USA.
Good fuckin' luck with that. Time Warner Cable has already said it will not carry the new and improved Current. Watch other cable providers fall into line.
al Jazeera may have spent $500 mill for a whole lot of nothing.
But then again, Al's major talent has been to convince other people that nothing IS something.