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On launch day, AJAM sues AT&T

Even on its inaugural day of broadcasting, Al Jazeera America was still fighting for visibility.

Hours after its launch at 3 p.m. ET, AJAM announced that it had filed a lawsuit against AT&T, which dropped the nascent channel from its U-verse pay-TV service at the last minute citing "breaches by Al Jazeera of the existing agreement."

“Al Jazeera America made a decision to seek judicial intervention in its dispute with AT&T. Unfortunately AT&T's decision to unilaterally delete Al Jazeera America presented us with circumstances that were untenable — an affiliate that has willfully and knowingly breached its contractual obligations," the new network announced in a press release late Tuesday night.

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"Accordingly, we had no choice but to take this action and to enforce Al Jazeera America's rights under its agreement with AT&T — and to compel AT&T to do the right thing," the release stated.

AT&T's decision, which the provider attributed to "our inability to come to terms on a new agreement" and "certain breaches by Al Jazeera of the existing agreement," is another thumb in the eye of AJAM. The new network has spent months trying to secure distributors who are reluctant to take on the network. Without U-verse, AJAM was broadcast on just four of the country’s 10 biggest television providers Tuesday afternoon.

More details at Reuters and The New York Times.