Plain old racism?

Not long ago, much like it happened in India with Indian TV viewers, Arab viewers had to content themselves with dull State-run TV channels. Now, there’s a media revolution sweeping the Arab world in the form of satellite-TV-based Arab-language news channels.

It started with Qatar-based Al Jazeera, and now includes channels like Al Arabiya (Saudi-sponsored) and Al Manar (run by the Hezbollah), among others. Not to be outdone by the locals, in 2004, the U.S. government started its own Arab-language channel in the Middle East – Al Hurra.

Last year, Al Jazeera began its English-language broadcast. However, it’s not available to U.S. viewers at the moment as no cable provider has agreed to carry it over U.S. soil. I wonder if the reason for this is an economic or a political one. Or, is it plain old racism?