Al Jazeera America (AJAM), a branch of the Arabic-language media outlet geared for a western audience, announced Tuesday that it will fold its TV and digital operations, the Intercept reports.

Al Jazeera America Terminates All TV and Digital Operations; Hundreds Lose Their Jobs https://t.co/eJkUrilmT1

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) January 13, 2016

In less than four years, AJAM has come from tumultuous beginnings to a sudden but expected end. It was founded in 2012 when Al Jazeers purchased Current TV for Al Gore for $500 million. Internal problems ran amok at the network right from the start, and low TV ratings didn't justify the cost. Gore ended up in a lawsuit with AJAM in 2014.

The Intercept's Glen Greenwald traces AJAM's early trials and tribulations:

From the start, employees complained vociferously that network executives were paralyzed by fear, believing they had to avoid all hints of bias and opinion in order to steer clear of what these executives regarded as the lethal stench of the Al Jazeera brand for American audiences. This turned much of the network into a diluted, extra-fearful version of CNN, which itself has suffered from remarkably low ratings for years. AJAM journalists typically blame one AJAM executive in particular, Ehab Al Shihabi, its executive director of international operations. Al Shihabi, whose background is in business and not journalism, was widely regarded as the prime author of the network’s identity problems and obsession with voice-less content.

The Intercept also links AJAM's fall to the fact the its owner and founder, the Government of Qatar, has taken an economic hit from falling oil prices.

AJAM's termination will result in hundreds of job losses. This won't be limited to the cable-TV production teams. What AJAM lacked in its cable TV programming it made up for in its English-language news online, which has found a sizeable audience in the U.S. Nonetheless, the Intercept notes, both the TV and the digitial employees are expected to be out of work.