Al Jazeera America Mounts Letter-Writing Campaign for Wider Distribution

Al Jazeera America is urging customers to send letters asking cable providers to add the network to their lineups before the channel’s August 20 premiere.

The fledgling news network faces the same critical issue as Al Gore’s former network; after purchasing Gore’s Current TV, Al Jazeera America inherited the channel’s viewer deficit. In fact, it has even lost more homes after its purchase. 

Via its website, the new foreign-owned news network is urging likely viewers to ask cable providers to add the Al Jazeera America channel to their cable packages and have prepared a helpful form letter for customers to use.

The letter appears after potential customers add their zip code, name, and email address.

The letter reads:

Dear,

I am writing to request that you add Al Jazeera America as part of your channel lineup. I want to watch Al Jazeera America for its objective, balanced, in-depth news reporting on stories that matter.

Please let me know when I can expect to see Al Jazeera America as a channel option.

Sincerely,

Al Jazeera America is expected to replace Current TV on Comcast, Dish Network, Verizon, DirecTV, and AT&T.

At its height, Current TV was available in 64 million homes, but with its debut on the 20th, Al Jazeera America will appear in only 48 million.

By contrast, MSNBC, the nation’s third-ranked cable news network, appears in about 96 million homes and rarely draws more than several hundred thousand viewers per program.