Established in 1996 and with much controversy, Al Jazeera Channel (Jazeera) has placed itself on the map as one of the leading Arab channels with over 50 million world-wide viewers. Jazeera broke the mold in the Middle East by placing hot-topic issues such as politics at the center-stage as a point of debate in it's reporting. By September 2006, Jazeera had 37 bureaus and dozens of correspondents covering the four corners of the world.

Jazeera's fast moving success and popularity led to its move into cyber space and in 2001, Jazeera launched Aljazeera.net, the Arabic and English news website. The site received more than 811 million impressions and 161 million visits in 2002. It further expanded it's distribution by launching Al Jazeera Mobile in October 2003 (offered to Thuraya Satellite Telecom subscribers in September 2005).

In addition to its primary news channel, Jazeera expanded its operations by launching Al Jazeera Sports in 2003; Al Jazeera Live and Al Jazeera Documentary channels in 2005; then came Al Jazeera Urdu in 2006. Capitalizing on it's brand name, Jazeera also has T-shirts, sunglasses, and cosmetics with its logo.

Following the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Lebanon, Jazeera became a global force in news broadcasting. In 2005, it ranked as the world's fifth most influential brand (trailing Apple, Google, Ikea and Starbucks) based on a survey of 2,000 advertising executives, brand managers and academics by online magazine BrandChannel. During such conflicts, Jazeera had exclusive access to statements and recordings from Oussama Bin Laden, Suha Arafat (wife of the late Yasser Arafat), and Hassan Nasralla.

The channel has often caused countless controversies, one of which resulted in the Bush Administration's consideration to bomb the channel's headquarters as reported by CNN and the Morning Star. The report concluded that AlJazeera's coverage of the U.S. led war on Iraq caused an uprising in the Iraqi city of Falluja, where several U.S. Marines were dispatched to reinstate order after the mutilation and killing of several American security guards.

In 2006, Jazeera, is planning to launch Al Jazeera International, aiming to be the first international high definition channel headquartered in the Middle East.