Did Politics Push Comcast to Pull Al-Jazeera HD?

By Phillip Swann

Washington, D.C. (April 17, 2007) -- Comcast backed away from a commitment to launch Al-Jazeera in High-Definition due to political pressure.

That's according to Al-Jazeera executives who made the charge to the Associated Press. Comcast denies the allegation.

Al-Jazeera's new English-speaking channel launched in the United States six months ago but has been picked up by just a handful of small cable systems.

The Arab news network has sparked controversy worldwide for what some say is favorable coverage of terrorists including Osama Bin Laden. The network denies the charges.

Al-Jazeera English managing director Nigel Parsons tells AP that Comcast was set to launch the high-def Al-Jazeera in Detroit, which is home to many Arab-Americans. However, Parsons says the cable operator pulled out just prior to the launch.

"We suspect there was outside pressure, including of a political nature,' Parsons said.

However, Parsons said he did not have any concrete evidence that Comcast was pressured by government officials or anyone else.

Comcast spokeswoman D'Arcy Rudnay denies the allegation, saying that the cable operator decided instead to use the bandwidth for more popular services.

'We looked at the local lineup and determined that the channel capacity would be better used to add other channels and services that our customers have been asking for, more (High Definition) and HD On Demand programming," Rudnay told the wire service.

But Parsons says the Comcast office in Detroit was "pushing" for Al-Jazeera to be added.

Jerome Espy, the cable operator's spokesman in Detroit, said he didn't know the details of the negotiations.