They had a fine product that they thought they had to dumb down and Americanize to monetize. Their possible audience was anyone with an internet connection and they decided that they should slice that to 1/6 in order to monetize by being a cable TV channel. They were so eager to be another cable news provider that was palatable to the general U.S. consumer that they compromised their outside the US filter credibility. It's corporate greed induced suicide at best. Al Jazeera English made me cry more times than any other television style media source. If I get the chance to stream it again it will be a great win. Their human interest stuff was the most powerful I've ever seen. I'm sure lots of it was them purchasing independent film producers work but goddamn they have an eye for talent. The king is dead long live the king.
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/NetworkDecay http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NetworkDecay/TotalAbandonment Happens to every. damn. channel. Warning: tvTropes links.