Current TV, the network co-founded by former US vice-president Al Gore, was sold for about $500 million (€383 million) to Al Jazeera, the Qatar-based cable-news channel, according to two people close to the deal.

The price tag represents an eightfold increase from the $60 million Mr Gore and his partners paid in 2004 for the channel that became Current TV, said one of the sources.

Mr Gore, chairman, and co-founder and chief executive Joel Hyatt announced the sale yesterday in a statement without providing financial terms.

While the purchase gives Al Jazeera access to the biggest US pay-TV carriers for the first time, it will have to improve on Current’s viewership to have staying power. Time Warner Cable, the second-biggest US cable carrier, is already dropping Current TV as it cuts out low-rated channels. – (Bloomberg)