Months after shutdown, Al Jazeera preps a U.S. return

It was only this spring that low-rated Al Jazeera America went off the air. Now the news organization is plotting a return to the U.S.

Al Jazeera Media Network will make the international channel Al Jazeera English available in the U.S. later this year, according to a company email obtained by Reuters.

In the email, Al Jazeera English acting managing director Giles Trendle wrote that the network will be available in the U.S. in September on digital platforms. He wrote that an exact date will be decided once the move is cleared with the company’s legal team.

The company is also in talks with the cable providers that previously aired Al Jazeera America. The hope is to make the international English version available in the U.S.

The company declined to comment to Reuters on the internal email.

Low ratings doomed Al Jazeera America

The U.S. edition of the network shut down on April 30, less than three years after it launched.

The shutdown wasn’t much of a surprise. In fact, it was more surprising that the channel stayed on the air for so long with such low ratings.

During the first quarter of this year, the network averaged 18,000 total-day viewers, according to Nielsen. That was the second-lowest among all rated cable networks during the January to March period.

During that span, the channel averaged just 5,000 viewers 18-49 in primetime, last among all cable networks.

Tags: al jazeera, Al Jazeera America, al jazeera english, cable, cable news, cable shorts, nielsen