TV Over Net

August 2007 – Al-Jazeera English has reported that it has registered 2mn hits since it agreed a distribution deal with YouTube in April 2007.

The service has also signed up 20,000 US subscribers to its online service, despite not securing a distribution deal with any large cable operators in the US, attributed to political opposition to its Arabic sister company.  The service has however signed a deal with US cable operator Globecast.

Neil Parsons, Managing Director of Al-Jazeera English, has stated that US viewers make up 60% of its online audience.  Viewers in the US pay $6 a month for the full channel to be streamed to their PCs.  While only 2,200 people have subscribed to its YouTube channel, over 70,000 video clips of Al-Jazeera English are being viewed per week via YouTube.

Mr. Parsons has also revealed that the company is ready to start marketing in the UK, beginning with adverts on London taxis and screens in Harrods.  Al-Jazeera English pitches itself as “the channel of reference for Middle Eastern events, balancing the current typical information flow by reporting from the developing world back to the west, and from the southern to the northern hemisphere.”