[Stooky Bill]

Looks like gauranteed money or not. These channels still have to break even or turn a profit. Now you can see the bind CNN is in. Makes you wonder whats gonna happen to SkyNews when their funding block is gone. Comcast is already looking to dump Sky Germany. So makes me think those European services arent that lucrative. SkyNews might look very different in the coming years..

CNN and Sky have different funding to AJ. AJ are funded by a royal family rather than through commercials or carriage. It exists mostly for 'soft power' rather than making money. Think of the BBC World Service, that's the same.

AJ has never and will never make money, but I'm sure the loss of the other broadcast centres is partly money related, but is probably also a control thing. They have less control over the output from elsewhere and logistically it's fairly awkward to keep switching production between continents. Having it in one place provides consistency. 

Part of the advantage in having a production centre in London was it provided a back up for Doha, and in at least one occasion London took on the whole schedule. It also provided a place for the British staff in Doha to come back to when they'd had enough in the desert! 

As with the other two centres they'll still have a presence there, it's just bulletin production that is ending, although that's the major part of the operation in The Shard. 

A bit said considering when they moved into The Shard  they had plans for a UK orientated version of the channel. I believe they even had space for a TX suite, possibly even fitted out ready