The group was set up after President Barack Obama shut down a controversial CIA programme that had detained suspects in a network of secret prisons under George W Bush's administration.

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They also convinced CBS' Group W to accept a 5% stake in the network as a payment for past, unpaid satellite services.

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In 2010, Al-Jazeera English blamed a "very aggressive hostility" from the administration of former President George W Bush for reluctance among US cable companies to show the network.

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W. Scripps, which Schonfeld accused of trying to screw up the Food Network, a cable channel he cofounded.

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