Al Jazeera meaning “The Island” or “The (Arabian) Peninsula” is an Arabic-language television channel based in Qatar. The station gained worldwide attention following the September 11, 2001 attacks, when it began broadcasting numerous video messages featuring Osama bin Laden and other Al Qaeda leaders.

Al Jazeera operates several specialized television channels in addition to its primary news channel. These include Al Jazeera Sports, a popular Arabic-language sports channel, Al Jazeera Live, which broadcasts conferences in real time without editing or commentary, and the Al Jazeera Children’s Channel.

The media company wants to open a language news channel starting in spring 2006 with broadcasting centers in Kuala Lumpur, London and Washington, D.C. named Al Jazeera International. It is planned that its English-language Web site will also be relaunched and it will include many new features like Short Message Service publishing for example.

Currently, Al Jazeera is negotiating with Astro, a Malaysian satellite TV provider, to carry the channel. No potential U.S. carriers have been named.