Reply #18: well, at least the process is transparent

[iverglas]

And at least the Canadian decision only affects Canada.

http://www.cpj.org/news/2001/US04oct01na.html, just for instance:

New York, October 4, 2001 — The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply concerned by reports that U.S. officials pressured Qatar in an attempt to influence the news coverage of the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera satellite channel.

Following a meeting yesterday in Washington, D.C., with U.S. secretary of state Colin Powell, Qatari ruler Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani acknowledged that U.S. officials had asked him to use his influence to rein in Al-Jazeera's news coverage.

As for the licence conditions, it strikes me that Rogers and any other distributor that declines to carry it will found a convenient peg on which to hang a potentially costly business decision, i.e. avoid bad press and boycotts from elements of the public that object to Al-Jazeera being made available, and will be at least secretly perfectly happy.