Al-Jazeera, the pan-Arab news network that has struggled to win space on US cable television, has acquired Current TV, the channel co-founded by former US vice-president Al Gore.

The deal is intended to give al-Jazeera greater penetration into the US market. It will close Current and replace it with a new network, al-Jazeera America. Gore will become a member of the new network's advisory board.

Current TV had struggled with viewers but is widely distributed on cable providers and reaches 60 million of the 100 million US households with cable or satellite service.

But al-Jazeera America will face hurdles with US distributors and viewers, television industry analysts said.

One of its distributors, Time Warner Cable, which accounted for about 12 million of those homes, announced late on Wednesday it was terminating its carriage deal with Current.

"Our agreement with Current has been terminated and we will no longer be carrying the service. We are removing the service as quickly as possible," it said in a statement.

Gore and business partner Joel Hyatt, who created the channel in 2005, confirmed the sale in a statement on Wednesday. The terms were undisclosed.

"Current Media was built based on a few key goals: to give voice to those who are not typically heard; to speak truth to power; to provide independent and diverse points of view; and to tell the stories that no one else is telling," Gore and Hyatt said.

"Al-Jazeera has the same goals and, like Current, believes that facts and truth lead to a better understanding of the world around us."

Al-Jazeera's reach in the US has struggled to move beyond the few large metropolitan areas, where some people can watch al-Jazeera English.

The network's managing director, Tony Burman, in 2010 blamed a "very aggressive hostility" from the Bush administration for reluctance among cable and satellite companies to show the network.

Al-Jazeera has attracted respect for its ability to build a serious news product in a short time. But there may be a culture clash at the network. Dave Marash, a former ABC Nightline reporter who worked for al-Jazeera in Washington, said he left the network in 2008 in part because he sensed an anti-US bias there.

Current, meanwhile, began as a groundbreaking effort to promote user-generated content, and settled into a more conventional format of political talk television with a liberal bent. But it has largely been outflanked by MSNBC in its effort to be a liberal alternative to the leading cable news network, Fox News Channel.

Gore worked on-air as an analyst during its recent election night coverage.

Current is expected to post $114m (£70m) in revenue in 2013, according to research firm SNL Kagan. The firm pegged the network's cash flow at nearly $24m a year.