Ten years after it started broadcasts that shook up Arab and American leaders, al-Jazeera was today set to launch an English-language network available in more than 80 million homes, but with no major US distribution.
Al-Jazeera English was readying to hit the airwaves at 12pm at the station's headquarters in Doha, capital of the tiny Persian Gulf state of Qatar.
This morning, the station was showing a screen graphic with a clock ticking down the minutes to air.
Al-Jazeera, which is bankrolled by Qatar's royal family, said its signal would reach 80 million cable and satellite TV viewers, mainly in the Middle East and Europe.
It hopes to steal viewers from CNN and the BBC by giving the world's 1 billion English speakers their first chance to watch news from a non-Western perspective.
Al-Jazeera's Arabic news channel is well known for angering leaders in the West and the Arab world, where it has been banned from operating in 18 countries at one time or another. Four Arab countries still block it from sending reporters.
The station has broken new ground covering taboo political, religious and social subjects, while airing interviews with opposition figures and Israeli officials who previously were absent from other Arab networks.
In Washington, Bush administration officials have branded the network's airing of messages from Osama bin Laden as an incitement to terrorism and criticised its often graphic coverage of bloodshed in Iraq.
Al-Jazeera says the messages and images are newsworthy. It has promoted its channels to US officials as the ideal venue to address the Muslim world.
Still, the station is burdened with a reputation among Americans as anti-US — an image al-Jazeera insists is unfair. Its staff argue that while the station adopts an Arab viewpoint, its coverage is balanced.
The broadcast will also be streamed live on its Internet site www.english.aljazeera.net.
Across Europe and the Middle East, al-Jazeera English will be widely available on major cable providers in Britain, Germany, Italy and even Israel, which al-Jazeera has promised to cover from an Arab perspective.
AP