Al Jazeera America Shutdown: What Caused The Untimely Demise Of The News Network?

By the time Al Jazeera America shuts down in April 2016, more than 700 employees currently working with the organization will lose their jobs (not to mention the millions of dollars that will be washed away).

The employees reportedly didn't see it coming - in fact, very few did.

in the history of electronic media.

So, what is the real backstory behind Al Jazeera America shutdown?

Experts may disagree on the specifics, but by and large, everybody seems to acknowledge the theory that it was probably a bad idea for the Doha-based news outfit to enter the US market with grand plans at a time when the market had been already saturating, Variety noted.

The company's $500 million purchase of the cable channel Current TV had raised many eyebrows in the industry. Some went on calling it the most ambitious project in the American TV after the introduction of Fox News. Others called it a sheer bad idea.

At a time when the TV viewership was already shrinking at a rapid pace, it was perhaps not an ideal move by Al Jazeera to try to conquer the market by acquiring cable channels.

Since its launch nearly two years ago, the channel had managed to pave its way to only 60 percent of all US households with cable TV despite a series of rather expensive acquisitions and expansion moves.

That eventually took a toll on the reach and influence of the channel (according to some assessment, Al Jazeera America could never top 30,000 viewers on a given night).

The anti-Semitic and sexist allegations brought against the network further damaged its image, and by extension, any hope of expansion the management had previously harbored.

However, even though the channel is closing, Al Jazeera is not going to part ways with the American market anytime soon. According to some reports, it is already shifting some of its resources to its digital operations at AJ+.