First saw this on CAJ-L courtesy of George Lessard: Newsworld International will shut down as of July 31, displacing about 50 to 60 unionized people at CBC.

Blame new owner Al Gore and his team's wish to rebrand and refocus on a younger audience.

Here's an excerpt from a CBC.ca story:

Gore outlined more of his plans for the channel. It will be rebranded and renamed as "Current" and will relaunch August 1 with a focus on attracting a younger audience.

The channel plans to encourage viewers to contribute their own programming to the channel via the internet.

The CBC currently has a contract to supply content to the channel. But with the change in programming focus, the contract is not being renewed following its expiry at the end of July.

Attempts to keep NWI alive 'unsuccessful'

CBC News management, while praising the quality of NWI's programming, said the decision to close it was beyond CBC's control.

"A few months ago, we were advised that the content supply arrangement will likely not be renewed," said CBC News Editor-in-Chief Tony Burman in a statement.

"Since that time, the CBC has been aggressively exploring alternate arrangements with the Gore Group and a myriad of other distribution partners throughout the United States in an effort to secure an ongoing future for NWI," he said.

"Unfortunately, these discussions have been unsuccessful."

Here's a Canadian Media Guild news release.