You bring up good points but there still is a need. There are plenty of people who wont even consider news that isn't on TV. Having a mainstream channel that disagrees with Fox and CNN would be a great thing IMO.

It wouldn't be considered mainstream by the people that would benefit most from an expanded world view, it would just be considered terrorist.

I'm not so sure. Of course some people are completely closed minded, but I think there is still a lot of ignorance out there that can be cured. You wouldn't know it staying on sites like this one but there are a lot of people who's primary source of information is the TV and they'll probably give most things they see on there a chance.

Give it time. I'd love to know how many racists reconsidered their world beliefs as a result of their children dating someone outside their race - simply having to deal with something on a regular basis can acclimate you to it and make you think a little more critically about it.

I am not a fan of Fox but I understand what you are saying. It would be nice to have a fresh way of checking the news or view it from different perspective. Current way of presenting from any news organization is awkward. Politicians are polarizing the nation and news organizations are feed to the fire. That's why I stopped watching the news channels. I find this peaceful and healthy. Sometimes I think we are going freakN backward as a country. It's an insult to our founding fathers and the American way.

I can't think of one instance when an argument that starts with, "There are plenty of people who..." should be convincing. Here in NC, when the governor and legislature made their final push for a lottery, the governor said, "We're at a competitive disadvantage with surrounding states who do have a lottery." Which is a fancy way of saying, Everybody's doing it. We need to start a huge advertising campaign to entice our poorest and most ignorant people to gamble.

But you also post on HN, making you a very unstereotypical consumer of media in the U.S. My parents would find it more difficult.

Especially considering the massive campaign of misinformation against AlJazeera during the build up of the Iraq war.

A perfect example of the Internet treating censorship as damage and routing around it.

atdhetv.net is an example of the net routing around censorship. Aljazeera.com just demonstrates that when you are funded by an oil rich emirate you can easily afford to provide "free and unlimited streaming options to all".

If Oman bought CNN tomorrow, you'd probably get that for free online as well. (In fact, considering AJ's success and western media's woes, maybe Oman buying CNN isn't so outlandish)

From what I know, Oman isn't that rich, just a little more well off than most of the developing world. GDP per capita US = 46k, Singapore = 36.5k, Qatar = 70k, Oman = 16k.

Won't YouTube, live stream etc gladly take on the distribution part of the equation if CNN etc were to consider going towards unlimited streaming?

Well, the internet treats "things people don't want" as damage and routes around it, censorship is just one of those things people don't want.

Streaming is not the only thing in the world.

I've been enjoying their oddly formatted and ad-free live blogs. At the same time I'm curious about their revenue stream. Is it being done in speculation for cable company cash?

Roku, too.