Al Jazeera English to launch tomorrow

Broadcast across the globe, Al Jazeera English will far exceed its original launch target of 40 million cable and satellite homes. It will be distributed across all continents throughout the world and in addition to cable and satellite will be available on broadband IPTV, ADSL, terrestrial and mobile phone platforms.

Wadah Khanfar, the Director General of the Al Jazeera Network stated, "Our launch figure is over double the original target we set for ourselves and is unprecedented in the broadcasting industry - no other international news channel has launched with such a high number of homes across the world. We will continue to build on this figure after launch and will be looking to expand our reach significantly. This is another reflection of the strength of the Al Jazeera brand."

Commercial Director of Al Jazeera English Language Channel, Lindsey Oliver said,

"I am absolutely delighted that our efforts have paid off and that Al Jazeera English will be launching with over 80 million cable and satellite households. We particularly appreciate the support that has been shown far and wide with distributors signing up to carry Al Jazeera English on the reputation of the Al Jazeera brand, our stated goals, our on air and off air teams, and without having seen the channel on air."

In addition to cable, ADSL, mobile platforms and satellite, Al Jazeera English will be available as a live stream to the one billion users of the Internet worldwide. Al Jazeera's English language website, aljazeera.net/english will be re-launched with the launch of the English language channel at 12.00 GMT tomorrow, to reflect the channel's look and feel and editorial content. It will provide live streams of the channel together with RSS feeds, e-mail newsletters and interactive discussion boards. RealNetworks will provide Internet users with a free live stream of the channel. Users will also be able to access a high bandwidth stream via subscription from Real, and a high bandwidth pay-as-you-go service will also be available.