Al Jazeera America to Launch Today

Screenshot from a promo for Al Jazeera America

Al Jazeera America to Launch Today

Al Jazeera America, the U.S. branch of the Qatar-based news network, launches on Tuesday.

The new television channel and online news desk will have its headquarters in New York with 12 bureaus across the country, and is set to begin broadcasting to 48 million homes.

Al Jazeera America said that viewers can expect to find 14 hours of news a day with fewer commercials than the industry average.

"Viewers will see a news channel unlike the others, as our programming proves Al Jazeera America will air fact-based, unbiased and in-depth news," the New York Timesreports Ehab Al Shihabi, the channel's acting chief executive, as saying during a news conference call last week. "There will be less opinion, less yelling and fewer celebrity sightings."

The Washington Postadds that

The launch comes less than a year after the Qatar-based news giant Al Jazeera bought the Current TV network in January. As the Times reported, the sale, valued at around $500 million, gave Al Jazeera a long-desired foothold in the American news market after years of failing to get wider U.S. distribution for its existing English-language channel.

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