kevin holt

January 13th, 2016 at 3:40 PM ^

I agree that maybe they should have marketed themselves more, but I think people mostly understand what it is at this point. It would have shut down years ago otherwise. And maybe keeping the sports channel as Al Jazeera would have been better actually.

Joined: 03/16/2010

MGoPoints: 17447

Rabbit21

January 13th, 2016 at 3:46 PM ^

Eh, wouldn't have changed the fact their reporting mirrored MSNBC's.  If you're going to copycat, at least copycat the channel with the good ratings.  

In the end Al Gore sold to them because Current was going down the tubes, all the oil money in the world can't change the underlying fundamentals which are that messing with Peyton Manning apparently gets you killed(did they not watch his SNL United Way ad?)

Joined: 11/12/2009

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ScruffyTheJanitor

January 13th, 2016 at 2:46 PM ^

Even though I never used them as my main news source, I had heard their name come up in various reports and had assumed they were doing well. I sincerely hope the name wasn't the reason it got so little traffic. 

Joined: 02/03/2011

MGoPoints: 12197

Don

January 13th, 2016 at 2:50 PM ^

but strictly and solely from a marketing/branding standpoint, their name could not have been more poorly suited to their goals in the American news media market.

Joined: 06/30/2008

MGoPoints: 148369

BornSinner

January 13th, 2016 at 2:50 PM ^

It's tough to get a foothold in the American market when you're not talking about Kim Kardashian or other sensationalized bullshit 24/7. I'm sure the foreign Arabic name didn't help either with scared xenophobes.

Joined: 09/20/2014

MGoPoints: 14672

The Mad Hatter

January 13th, 2016 at 2:54 PM ^

But I will say that they covered a lot of international stories that are completely ignored by the other US based media outlets. 

American's don't want news.  They want to be entertained.

/that rumbling sound is Walter Cronkite and Edward R Murrow spinning in their graves.

Joined: 02/17/2015

MGoPoints: 112109

Tuebor

January 13th, 2016 at 2:56 PM ^

I'm not surprised.  Especially since Current TV before them wasn't doing much better in the ratings. 

 

Are they shutting down or are they looking to sell?  If I win the powerball tonight I might want to buy a cable network. 

 

 

Joined: 03/14/2011

MGoPoints: 17467

WorldFlyer747

January 14th, 2016 at 9:34 AM ^

and get rid of things like public access, any home shopping networks, jesus related channels, and any other stuff that has no relevance to what you want to view.  Pretty standard.

Joined: 11/20/2015

MGoPoints: 602

bluebyyou

January 13th, 2016 at 3:33 PM ^

I don't think his comment is absurd at all.  Finding a FACTUAL news source these days is not as easy as it seems. Almost all network news sources are playing to an audience and shape their reporting accordingly as do almost all bloggers.  Having opposing points of view allows you to see the arguments both sides are setting forth, but first, you need facts and getting them isn't always easy.

Joined: 09/07/2009

MGoPoints: 18566

bluebyyou

January 13th, 2016 at 3:49 PM ^

Even factual reporting is not as straightforward as some people like to think.  Without going political, look at unemployment.  There are lots of different benchmarks that are reported upon and available from BLS, but there is constant division between political groups as to what the benchmarks actually mean to say nothing as to changes in the manner data is collected. Change the channel and the report that sounded great on channel A is getting lambasted on channel B.

Joined: 09/07/2009

MGoPoints: 18566

bluebyyou

January 13th, 2016 at 3:44 PM ^

Everyone here is familiar with biased reporting in the sport world, and that is Deflategate.  I read every report, hearing transcript and pleading filed in the case and you eventually reach, relatively early, the opinion that Brady was being taken down, particularly by the totally biased talking heads on ESPN.  I mean, crap, you didn't have to know much more than the Ideal Gas Law to think that a 20 degree temperature drop equates to a loss of a couple of PSI (thank you Michigan Engineering) but most of the jerks, like Mark Brunell, didn't seem to take the same course work.

Joined: 09/07/2009

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ElBictors

January 13th, 2016 at 4:32 PM ^

Inspired by the "Deflatriots" three of my son's 3rd grade classmates did Science Fair projects to Test the hypothesis of whether having a deflated ball is advantageous.

All three experiments concluded that you can throw a partially deflated ball further than a fully inflated one.

Still not sure how that's a material advantage and the name "Deflategate" is gay to begin with, but the whole scandal was as much about being uncooperative with the almighty Roger than anything else.

Joined: 03/27/2015

MGoPoints: 8446

bluebyyou

January 13th, 2016 at 6:24 PM ^

If you mean that Brady should have given his phone to Wells, I'd suggest that he had absolutely no requirement to do so as well as no punishment.  Wells didn't even push the point.

That the balls had lower air pressure is not the issue be rather the cause of the lower pressure. 

Joined: 09/07/2009

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ElBictors

January 13th, 2016 at 11:10 PM ^

I wouldn't have given Roger my phone either, broham. But of course that's irrelevant to the point (unless your Brady's lawyer or agent) when the commish is dictator and can do what he wants. Systemic issues with pushing boundaries or crossing the line will draw attention in any business or industry. Maybe if New England would stop cheating in all these different ways, Roger wouldn't get so pissed off and act so incredulously, demanding someone's phone like a power hungry, paranoid dictator.

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