Are you paying for al Jazeera?

eye95 · Aug 21, 2013

If you have a DirecTV package, you probably are--indirectly at least.

al Jazeera took over Current TV and became part of most DirecTV packages. DirecTV is offering no real option to stop receiving and (indirectly) paying for it. In order for me to get rid of that channel, I must drop down to a package that has 86 fewer channels. If I have to do that, I will simply switch to AT&T Uverse or Time Warner Cable. Both of those providers summarily dropped the channel when al Jazeera took over.

AT&T is being sued by al Jazeera for this. They will probably win the suit, but it will be costly. DirecTV is taking what they think is the easy way out and trying to ignore the problem. I am going to do everything I can for the next month to make this problem unignorable. I hope others contact DirecTV and help. If, within a month, by the time I have to pay my bill again, DirecTV does not have a reasonable solution (possibly they make it a premium channel, purchased and paid for individually by suckers who choose to do so--there won't be many), then I will simply switch to another provider that does not force me to pay for this channel.

77zach · Aug 21, 2013

I like Al Jazeera, I find them and Russia Today more accurate than NBC, CNN, Faux News, and other state media outlets with their info babes. Good luck in your quest. More options is always a good thing.

Citizen · Aug 21, 2013

Will you also be dropping services that include Amerikan propaganda organs like CNN, Fox, ABC, NBC, and CBS?

One I like so far is RT (Russian Times).

OC for ME · Aug 21, 2013

I'm sure AJ is just as credible a news sources as the Beeb, NPR, and The Huffing & Puffington Post.

I'll like be paying some small amount, but i am not required to watch......yet.

eye95 · Aug 21, 2013

I knew I'd receive responses like those above--and from some specific posters. I was right about the posters and the responses.

To those who like the network that praised the 9/11 murderers and other terrorists, fine, pay for it. It should be a premium channel for those few (very few) who want it. I personally don't want even one dime of my money going to support this terrorist-supporting channel.

Anyway, I have given DirecTV until 9/11 to fix this issue or cancel my service. The order to cancel is already in. I will stop the order if they find a way to offer me essentially the service I already have sans the terror-lovers channel. I don't care if it is offered to others; I just don't want it forced on me.

I will ultimately be going with AT&T Uverse or Time Warner Cable as both of these services cancelled the channel when al Jazeera took it over.

JamesCanby · Aug 21, 2013

eye95 said:
I knew I'd receive responses like those above--and from some specific posters. I was right about the posters and the responses.

To those who like the network that praised the 9/11 murderers and other terrorists, fine, pay for it. It should be a premium channel for those few (very few) who want it. I personally don't want even one dime of my money going to support this terrorist-supporting channel.

Anyway, I have given DirecTV until 9/11 to fix this issue or cancel my service. The order to cancel is already in. I will stop the order if they find a way to offer me essentially the service I already have sans the terror-lovers channel. I don't care if it is offered to others; I just don't want it forced on me.

I will ultimately be going with AT&T Uverse or Time Warner Cable as both of these services cancelled the channel when al Jazeera took it over.

Good that you have a choice of cable providers. In my town, one either uses ComCast or one has to go to a dish-type service. The town government has granted a monopoly to ComCast. I'll have to check with them to see if they are going to add AJ.

eye95 · Aug 21, 2013

They might not have to add it. al Jazeera bought Current TV. If your provider was already carrying Current TV, it is now carrying al Jazeera--unless (like AT&T U-verse or Time Warner Cable) they took action to remove the channel.

Liberty is about choice. I choose NOT to pay for a package that includes that propaganda channel.

Citizen · Aug 21, 2013

eye95 said:
I knew I'd receive responses like those above--and from some specific posters. I was right about the posters and the responses.

That's like saying, "I knew the sun the would come up. It did. I was right! I was right! See how right I was!!"

JamesCanby · Aug 21, 2013

eye95 said:
They might not have to add it. al Jazeera bought Current TV. If your provider was already carrying Current TV, it is now carrying al Jazeera--unless (like AT&T U-verse or Time Warner Cable) they took action to remove the channel.

Liberty is about choice. I choose NOT to pay for a package that includes that propaganda channel.

I checked and Current TV is in ComCast's highest-cost package, and not in the package I'm paying for. I guess I'll have to monitor that and make sure that AJ does not pressure ComCast to move it into the more basic packages ... or perhaps be proactive and contact them to let them know that I do not approve of including AJ in any package...

Citizen · Aug 21, 2013

eye95 said:
SNIP To those who like the network that praised the 9/11 murderers and other terrorists, fine, pay for it. It should be a premium channel for those few (very few) who want it. I personally don't want even one dime of my money going to support this terrorist-supporting channel.

Strawman95, nobody said they like al Jazeera except 77Zach, and he explained it was their accuracy.

Oh, and great arrogance on your part, heaving in an OP that doesn't state your premise for disliking al Jazerra. Just assume you're so important everybody either knows your objection, or doesn't need to know.

Citizen · Aug 21, 2013

eye95 said:
Liberty is about choice. I choose NOT to pay for a package that includes that propaganda channel.

Oh, but you'll pay for propaganda from Amerikan news networks like CNN, Faux,...?

Black_water · Aug 21, 2013

I stopped paying for cable/satellite years ago and I refuse to pay ever again because I think it is all crap...but I digress.

CNN, ABC and NBC might not have been actively promoting stuff like AJ, but they are just as guilty to the decline of news coverage in this nation and are easily just as guilty of propaganda. For those that want to throw other channels in there, well don't bother. ABC and NBC are GUILTY of fabricating and omissions of details with regard to the Martin/Zimmerman case in an effort to direct public opinion. CNN and NBC are both going to make polemics about Hillary Clinton.

Clearly these channels are more desirous of creating opinion than they are reporting the actual news.

IMO, we all know what AJ is about and this channel doesn't try to pretend it is something else like the above channels. I would rather watch a channel that is unapologetic about its content than one that lies and distorts.

eye95 · Aug 21, 2013

If you want to watch it, you pay for it. I will not.

Citizen · Aug 21, 2013

eye95 said:
If you want to watch it, you pay for it. I will not.

Let your reasonableness be known to everyone... [W]hatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

Is that your idea of reasonableness--to dodge the question?

Apparently, you're willing to pay for the propaganda channels from American networks. What's the difference? Why the double-standard? Why the hypocrisy? Why the dodge?

And, why attribute to others the premise that they like it, when you know darned good and well only one person said he likes their other reporting?

By the way, thanks for turning off that Ipad-tapatalk stuff.

77zach · Aug 21, 2013

Alternative perspectives on foreign policy are valuable, epecially from RT and Al-Jezeera. Western and Eastern elites are at odds in their propaganda and this can be used to juxtapose reporting to glean actual facts.

eye95 · Aug 21, 2013

If folks cannot see the difference between flawed news networks and the network that applauded the thousands of murders on 9/11, then further discussion with them will be fruitless.

Anyway, as I have said repeatedly, the dogmatic cadre that try to dominate this site are not the target of my posts. They are merely foils. It is the ones who read the stuff posted here, rarely (if ever) posting themselves, whom I am trying to influence. If the cadre here think their ridiculous hyperbole is being received well by this group...well, all the better.

Citizen · Aug 21, 2013

eye95 said:
If folks cannot see the difference between flawed news networks and the network that applauded the thousands of murders on 9/11, then further discussion with them will be fruitless.

Anyway, as I have said repeatedly, the dogmatic cadre that try to dominate this site are not the target of my posts. They are merely foils. It is the ones who read the stuff posted here, rarely (if ever) posting themselves, whom I am trying to influence. If the cadre here think their ridiculous hyperbole is being received well by this group...well, all the better.

Oh, you mean like the American news networks that cheer and promote the government's position on killing thousands of innocents in drone strikes in Pakistan? What's the official number up to now? 4K? Well above the dead in 9-11.

The warmongering networks? The networks that cheer the US military? The networks that churn out the government's propaganda on the economy and monetary policy? Those networks?

I get it. Four legs good. Two legs bad.

77zach · Aug 21, 2013

eye95 said:
If folks cannot see the difference between flawed news networks and the network that applauded the thousands of murders on 9/11, then further discussion with them will be fruitless.

Right, but you have the western perspective. To easterners, western popaganda outlets promoted and gave cover to the U.S.gov resulting in deaths of up to a million innocent Iraqis.

KBCraig · Aug 21, 2013

Just a minor point: Al Jazeera English is an entirely new network. While it's owned by al Jazeera, they're not the same -- no more than Fox Business is the same as Fox News.

OC for ME · Aug 22, 2013

One of two possible outcomes will arise from informing your "service provider" regarding your intentions to not pay for AJ. No service provided at all, or suck it up.

Until al carte programing is available we are held hostage to the service provider. We do have the right to not pay for their service at all. I take a pragmatic approach, I just don't watch channels that I do not like. AJ will never gather data that indicates that one second of their programing was displayed on my TV.

No viewers, no ad revenue.

Essentially, AJ will need to be propped up by mid-east oil sheiks, or garner government funding as does NPR. But, our country is rife with liberals who will likely consider AJ as one of the preeminent news outlets in line with the NYT.

Are you paying for al Jazeera?

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