Israeli's Drop BBC World For Al Jazeera
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Tara Conlan
Wednesday December 13, 2006
BBC World has been dropped by Israel's satellite provider Yes TV in favour of the newly launched al-Jazeera English.
It is the first major distribution blow the corporation's international news channel has suffered since al-Jazeera's English-language service began broadcasting last month.
Although BBC World will still be available in Israel via cable, it will lose around 50% of its audience in the country as a result of being dropped by Yes.
Al-Jazeera English signed the carriage deal with Yes last month, but the damaging consequences for BBC World have only just emerged.
One BBC executive said: "We are disappointed but hopefully they will come back to the negotiations."
The deal with Yes takes al-Jazeera English's global reach to around 80m households.
The market for rolling international news is become increasingly crowded, with new rivals to BBC World and CNN.
In addition to the launch of al-Jazeera English, France 24 began broadcasting last week.
The BBC has had a difficult time over its coverage of Israel, with regular accusations of bias coming from both the Israeli and Palestinian sides.
Earlier this year an independent panel was set up by the corporation's board of governors to review its coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
MediaGuardian.co.uk Special Report
The following link will allow you to access the new Al Jazeera International in English:
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