Al Jazeera launches US television news service Tuesday Aug 20,2013

Al Jazeera launched on Aug 20,2013 Tuesday afternoon with a flurry of live news and pre-taped segments a new TV news channel in the United States.

The new US network will employ around 850-900 journalists at launch, based in 12 US cities

Al Jazeera America will be available in almost 48 million US households, offering 14 hours of news each day.

The new network replaces Current TV, the cable television network founded by former US Vice President Al Gore, which the Qatar-owned broadcaster acquired in Jan 2013 for around $500m (£308m)

Al Jazeera America said that they will give less airtime than other US networks to advertising, typically carrying six minutes of adverts each hour, less than the industry average of 15 minutes

Globally, Al Jazeera is seen in more than 260 million homes in 130 countries.