Gore Went to Bat for Al Jazeera, and Himself

Al Gore's Current TV was never popular with viewers, but it was a hit where it counted: with cable and satellite providers. When he co-founded the channel in 2005, Mr. Gore managed to get the channel piped into tens of millions of households - a huge number for an untested network - through a combination of personal lobbying and arm-twisting of industry giants.

He called on those skills again after deciding in December to sell Current TV to Al Jazeera for $ 500 million. To preserve the deal - and the estimated $100 million he would personally receive - he went to some of those same distributors, who were looking for an excuse to drop the low-rated channel, and reminded them that their contracts with Current TV called it a news channel. Were the distributors going to say that an American version of Al Jazeera didn't qualify, possibly invoking ugly stereotypes of the Middle Eastern news giant?

“The lawyers for the carriers couldn't find their way around it,” said a person briefed on the negotiations who described them on condition of anonymity.

Mr. Gore, who lost his last big legal argument - the one in 2000 - succeeded. On Wednesday night, a deal was announced that will bring the Al Jazeera brand into at least 40 million homes in the United States. It will also make Mr. Gore, who is already estimated to be worth more than $100 million, an even richer man.

The deal completed an eight-year odyssey for Mr. Gor e and for Current TV that confirmed one of the realities of show business: it can be a lot easier to profit from a channel than to come up with must-see TV for viewers.

Television executives and observers were surprised by both the big price tag and the decision by Mr. Gore, one of the best-known proponents for action to combat global warming, to sell to a Middle Eastern monarchy built with oil wealth.

The headline on a FoxNews.com op-ed on Thursday was “Global warming guru Al Gore becomes rich hypocrite with sale of Current TV to Qatar, Inc.” Several analysts said that Al Jazeera overpaid for Current.

“The deep-pocketed Qatari royal family backing Al Jazeera handily outbid any other bidder's rational bid,” the research firm PrivCo said in a note to clients.

Mr. Gore did not directly respond to those lines of criticism on Thursday. But in an e-mail message he wrote of his reason for divesting: “I am incredibly proud of what Current has been able to accomplish. But broadcast media is a business, and being an independent content producer in a time of increasing consolidation is a challenge.”

Current was never a full-time job for Mr. Gore. He is a co-founder of Generation Investment Management, an investment partner at the Silicon Valley venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, an adviser to Google and a board member at Apple. He also is the chairman of a nonprofit call ed the Climate Reality Project. He rarely appeared on camera on Current.

Still, as its chairman, he was seen as crucial to the business.

“When it came to distribution issues, he was always available to make that final call. He was always the closer,” said a Current TV executive, who like others interviewed insisted on anonymity to protect business relationships.

Current was born out of Newsworld International, a niche channel that Mr. Gore and his business partners bought in 2004 for an undisclosed sum. Newsworld's biggest distributor at the time was DirecTV, which sold television service to 20 million homes, and the man about to become the controlling shareholder of DirecTV was none other than Rupert Murdoch, the chief executive of News Corporation.

In a meeting in New York, Mr. Gore leaned on Mr. Murdoch for an extended contract with a lucrative per-subscriber fee.

“It's good for DirecTV to have a diverse set of news sources,” Mr. Gore said, according to one of the people who recounted the meeting.

The resulting contract guaranteed Current roughly 10 cents per subscriber per month and laid the groundwork for similar contract extensions with smaller distributors. That's why Current, despite having one of the puniest audiences of any widely distributed cable channel, was able to post annual revenue of about $100 million.

Mr. Gore took a role in running Current, handpicking some hosts for the channel, including Keith Olbermann and Jennifer Granholm in 2011 and Mr. Olbermann's replacement, Eliot Spitzer, in 2012. (Ms. Granholm recalled the day when “Al Gore called out of the blue and said, ‘We've got this network, and this is a really important election. We want to do a political show about the election - would you be interested in helping?'”)

But none of the hosts could attract an audience large enough to satisfy distributors, particularly Time Warner Cable, which had been warning for over a year that it might drop Current from its lineup. Mr. Gore, frustrated by the low ratings, told associates he felt he was having more impact through his AlGore.com blog and through volunteer trainingthan through Current.

Last summer Mr. Gore started anchoring election coverage himself, but by then he and his co-founder Joel Hyatt were determined to cash out. In the fall, their bankers invited a phalanx of major media companies, including The New York Times Company, to look at Current's books and took calls from interested parties, including Glenn Beck's online network TheBlaze, which like Al Jazeera has been seeking to make deals with distributors.

The prospect of Mr. Gore's doing business with Mr. Beck, a staunch conservative, was even more unlikely than Mr. Gore and Al Jazeera. Mr. Beck said on his radio show Thursday that his company's interest was rebuffed “within 15 minutes.”

“We were not allowed to the table,” he said. “He didn't sell to the highest bidder. He looked for, Who do I ideologically align with?” Mr. Beck's producer Stu Burguiere added, “The guy who was vice president of the United States and was 537 votes away from being president during 9/11 is ideologically aligned, by his own definition, with the network that Osama bin Laden went to every time he wanted to get a message out.”

Mr. Gore, who will have an unpaid seat on the board of the new Al Jazeera channel, does not see it that way. Al Jazeera, he said, is one of the most pop ular media companies in the world.

“Their global reach is unmatched and their coverage of major events like the Arab Spring is thorough, fair and informative,” he said.

Patrick Healy contributed reporting.

National Geographic to Produce \"Killing Kennedy\"

The National Geographic cable channel, looking to expand its original history-based programming, has bought the rights to “Killing Kennedy,” a best seller by Bill O'Reilly.

The production, which will be headed by the director Ridley Scott through his company, Scott Free, follows “Killing Lincoln,” which will be shown on the channel in February.

That film is also an adaptation of a book by Mr. O'Reilly and his writing partner Martin Dugard, and was also produced by Scott Free. Tom Hanks is the narrator of the Lincoln film.

News Corporation, which owns Mr. O'Reilly's home base, Fox News Channel, also owns a controlling share of the National Geographic channel.

Questions Linger for Hosts After Sale of Current TV

Eliot Spitzer, Jennifer Granholm, Joy Behar and the other hosts on Current TV have no idea what comes next.

On Wednesday, their television home was sold to Al Jazeera, which plans to remake Current into an international news channel with newscasts from New York and Al Jazeera's headquarters in Doha, Qatar.

The hosts and their staffs haven't been told what that means for them, however. Some of the employees may be absorbed into the new channel that Al Jazeera intends to start later this year. But layoffs are anticipated in the weeks ahead, according to people at the channel who spoke on condition of anonymity because they did not want to upset the new owners.

One of the hosts, Ms. Granholm, has already signaled that she is leaving the channel. Her contract to host the 6 and 9 p.m. program “The War Room” expired after the presidential election, and she renewed for just three months.

“We'll continue to broadcast ‘The War Room' for the next few weeks through the transition, but after that I'll be going back to teaching, speaking and other things,” she wrote on Facebook on Wednesday night.

Theoretically, Al Jazeera might want to keep at least some of the shows that Current carries, since it wants 60 percent of the programming on its new channel to come from the United States.

Mr. Spitzer, who has hosted the 8 p.m. program “Viewpoint” since spring, declined to comment on whether he would consider staying if asked. For Mr. Spitzer, television is a way to fight for his point of view. But given his presumed political aspirations, he may hesitate to be associated with Al Jazeera.

Current has one show with a sitting politician, Gavin Newsom, the lieutenant governor of California. Mr. Newsom has not commented publicly about the sale. Nor has Ms. Behar, the comedian who was hired by Current last summer in a bid to draw more viewers to the low-rated channel.

T he Web is an alternative outlet for at least one of the channel's hosts, Cenk Uygur, who made a name for himself by co-founding a progressive talk show on the Internet, “The Young Turks,” before moving to television. He helms the 7 p.m. hour on Current.

“We will continue that TV show for at least another three months,” Mr. Uygur said on Twitter on Wednesday night. Then he linked to the YouTube page for his Internet talk show and said, “Here is where you can watch ‘The Young Turks' no matter what happens.”

Questions Linger for Hosts After Sale of Current TV

Eliot Spitzer, Jennifer Granholm, Joy Behar and the other hosts on Current TV have no idea what comes next.

On Wednesday, their television home was sold to Al Jazeera, which plans to remake Current into an international news channel with newscasts from New York and Al Jazeera's headquarters in Doha, Qatar.

The hosts and their staffs haven't been told what that means for them, however. Some of the employees may be absorbed into the new channel that Al Jazeera intends to start later this year. But layoffs are anticipated in the weeks ahead, according to people at the channel who spoke on condition of anonymity because they did not want to upset the new owners.

One of the hosts, Ms. Granholm, has already signaled that she is leaving the channel. Her contract to host the 6 and 9 p.m. program “The War Room” expired after the presidential election, and she renewed for just three months.

“We'll continue to broadcast ‘The War Room' for the next few weeks through the transition, but after that I'll be going back to teaching, speaking and other things,” she wrote on Facebook on Wednesday night.

Theoretically, Al Jazeera might want to keep at least some of the shows that Current carries, since it wants 60 percent of the programming on its new channel to come from the United States.

Mr. Spitzer, who has hosted the 8 p.m. program “Viewpoint” since spring, declined to comment on whether he would consider staying if asked. For Mr. Spitzer, television is a way to fight for his point of view. But given his presumed political aspirations, he may hesitate to be associated with Al Jazeera.

Current has one show with a sitting politician, Gavin Newsom, the lieutenant governor of California. Mr. Newsom has not commented publicly about the sale. Nor has Ms. Behar, the comedian who was hired by Current last summer in a bid to draw more viewers to the low-rated channel.

T he Web is an alternative outlet for at least one of the channel's hosts, Cenk Uygur, who made a name for himself by co-founding a progressive talk show on the Internet, “The Young Turks,” before moving to television. He helms the 7 p.m. hour on Current.

“We will continue that TV show for at least another three months,” Mr. Uygur said on Twitter on Wednesday night. Then he linked to the YouTube page for his Internet talk show and said, “Here is where you can watch ‘The Young Turks' no matter what happens.”

Time Warner Cable Says It Will Keep \'Open Mind\' on Reinstating Al Jazeera

Time Warner Cable minced no words when it announced on Wednesday night that it was dropping Current TV, just hours after Al Jazeera acquired the channel. “Our agreement with Current has been terminated and we will no longer be carrying the service,” the distributor said. “We are removing the service as quickly as possible.”

Critics of the distributor's decision didn't hold back, either, calling it cowardly, shameful and just plain dumb. On Twitter and Facebook, many people assumed that Time Warner Cable was expressing corporate opposition to Al Jazeera, the pan-Arab news giant, by taking Current off its cable systems in the United States.

But executives at the cable company said the channel wasn't removed for political reasons. It had more to do, they said, with Current's low ratings and its contract, which had a “change of ownership” clause that allowed it to be terminated. Time Warner Cable, which has 12 million subscribers, enough to make it the second-largest cable company in the country, has taken a hard line against low-rated channels.

That said, Time Warner Cable doesn't want to be seen as outwardly hostile to Al Jazeera, especially at a time when other major distributors are keeping Current on their cable systems. (DirecTV, Dish Network, Verizon, and AT&T were among the distributors that consented to the takeover of Current.) Al Jazeera plans to replace Current with a channel, potentially called Al Jazeera America, that incorporates new programming from the United States and currrent programming from its headquarters in Qatar.

On Thursday afternoon, as complaints continued, Time Warner Cable issued a statement that opened the door to carrying the channel in the future. “We are keeping an open mind, and as the service develops, we will evaluate whether it makes sense, for our customers, to launch the network,” the statement read.

Time Warner Cable noted that it had what is called a “hunti ng license” in the television industry: an option to carry Al Jazeera's current English-language channel if it so chooses. To date, it hasn't acted on that option. Time Warner Cable and other major distributors have been reluctant to carry Al Jazeera English, in part because they feel there isn't adequate demand for the channel from their customers. They also resent that the channel is streamed free over the Internet.

Through separate pacts between Al Jazeera English and local broadcasters, the channel is already accessible through Time Warner Cable in New York and Los Angeles.

Time Warner Cable may simply be betting that if it negotiates a new contract with Al Jazeera, the terms will be more favorable than the ones in the old contract with Current. A  spokeswoman for the distributor declined to comment on that prospect.

Michele Norris Returns to NPR

Michele Norris, the NPR host who took a 15-month leave of absence while her husband worked for the Obama campaign, will return to the public radio network in February, NPR said Thursday.

But Ms. Norris will not resume hosting “All Things Considered,” the program she, Robert Siegel and Melissa Block hosted for nearly a decade. Rather, she will be a guest host for NPR and a special correspondent. Audie Cornish, who took over for Ms. Norris in January 2012, will remain a co-host of the afternoon news program.

NPR said in a news release that Ms. Norris “will produce in-depth profiles, interviews and series, and regularly guest host NPR News programs,” including “All Things Considered,” “Morning Edition” and “Talk of the Nation.” When she returns to the public radio network, she'll bring wi th her “The Race Card Project,” an initiative she started that involves people sharing six-word comments about race. The initiative will be featured on NPR's Web site and will spawn related radio segments as well. She will also continue a developing a book club for young listeners.

Ms. Norris left her position in October 2011 when her husband, Broderick Johnson, joined President Obama's re-election campaign as a senior adviser. At the time she cited both the ethical conundrum and “the impact that it will most certainly have on our family life.”

When she left, she said it was a temporary change “until after the 2012 elections.” But Thursday's announcement makes the hosting change permanent.

Ms. Cornish was previously the host of “Weekend Edition Sunday.” Rachel Martin, wh o filled in for her on Sundays last year, will now be the permanent\ host of that program, NPR said.

The Breakfast Meeting: Al Jazeera\'s Deal for Current TV

Al Jazeera, the Arab news giant financed by the government of Qatar, announced its plans to buy Current TV, the failing progressive network co-founded by Al Gore. The deal will give Al Jazeera a much bigger footprint in the United States, reaching 40 million households. After the acquisition was announced, Time Warner Cable said that it would no longer carry Current TV.

Andrew Sullivan, the original enfant terrible of blogging, has announced that his platform, The Dish, will leave The Daily Beast and strike out on its own. The plan is to charge readers directly, starting at $20 for the first year.

A federal judge has rejected a The New York Times's suit that sought more information on the United States government's drone strike program, including the attack in 2011 that killed an American citizen, Anwar al-Awlaki, and his 16-year-old son.

BuzzFeed, the social media darling that combines serious political coverage with kitten videos, announced it had received $20 million in new funding.

Barnes & Noble Reports Tepid Holiday Sales

Barnes & Noble on Thursday reported disappointing holiday sales for the nine-week period ending Dec. 29, particularly for its struggling e-reader business.

Retails sales from the company's bookstores and its Web site, BN.com, decreased by 10.9 percent from the same period in 2011, to $1.2 billion. More shockingly, sales for the Nook unit - which includes e-readers, tablets, digital content and accessories - decreased 12.6 percent over the same period.

The nation's largest book chain has invested heavily in recent years in developing a tablet that could compete with offerings from media giants like Google, Apple and Amazon. While its most recent products have won critical praise, the sales figures emphasized just how hard the battle has been in an increasingly competitive digital market.

The company pointed out that the Nook unit sales decreased even though digital content sales actually increased 13.1%. (Digital content sales are defined to include digit al books, digital newsstand, and the apps business.) So the decline was a very bad sign for the sales performance of their tablets, which offer services like music and video in addition to books.

“We entered the holiday with two great new products, NOOK HD and NOOK HD+, both highly rated media tablets of phenomenal quality,” William Lynch, the company's chief executive, said in a written statement. “NOOK device sales got off to a good start over the Black Friday period, but then fell short of expectations for the balance of holiday. We are examining the root cause of the December shortfall in sales, and will adjust our strategies accordingly going forward.”

Last month, Barnes & Noble announced that Pearson, the British education and publishing conglomerate, was taking a 5 percent stake in Nook for $89.5 million. Analysts said that that cash investment - following a $300 million investment by Microsoft last spring - will help the business but not solv e its core problems.

BuzzFeed Announces $20 Million in New Financing

BuzzFeed, the social news Web site that was one of the media industry darlings of 2012, began the new year by announcing Thursday morning that it had raised nearly $20 million in new financing from its investors.

With the infusion of capital the company will hire more employees, try to strengthen its presence on mobile phones and potentially add international flavors of its Web site.

Jonah Peretti, the site's founder and chief executive said in a statement: “We have the senior management, board, and investors we need to build the next great media company: socially native, tech enabled, with massive scale. We are all focused on that big goal and raised this capital to move even faster.”

Indeed, it was just a year ago that BuzzFeed hired Ben Smith, a star reporter from Politico, to be its editor in chief, and raised $15.5 million in venture capital financing. Money from that round, its Series C round, essentially h asn't been touched yet - the site's traffic and revenue growth has helped to pay for some of the now 70 reporters and editors the site employs. But the board of BuzzFeed wanted to invest more now.

The Series D round, totaling $19.3 million, was led by New Enterprise Associates. All of the investors who participated in prior rounds invested more this time, including RRE Ventures, Hearst Interactive Media, SoftBank, and Lerer Ventures. The company announced two new investors on Thursday, Michael and Kass Lazerow, the co-founders of Buddy Media.

“We think BuzzFeed will be one of the great media companies of the next decade,” Patrick Kerins, a board member who led the round for New Enterprise Associates, said in a statement.

BuzzFeed has been around since 2006, but it gained attention last year for hiring Mr. Smith and several other young, Web-savvy reporters and editors. Its mix of political scoops, links to viral videos and easy-to-digest lists (“23 Adorable Photos of…” “17 Things You Should Know About…”) has been both praised as a model for the future of online publishing and lampooned by skeptics.

Mr. Peretti told David Carr last year that the site is a natural response to a changing Web world. “As the world has realigned from being about portals and then search and now social, how do you build a media company for a social world?” he said. “And a big part of that is scoops and exclusives and original content, and it's also about cute kittens in an entertaining cultural context.”