Actually that is not entirely true. Industry insiders will tell you that channels like CCTV4, RT America are being provided to cable companies as “free-to-air” channels. That is, they’re not asking for any compensation from satellite and cable providers, just a place on the dial.
Al-Jazeera English was “free-to-air” but now that Al-Jazeera America is on the air, they’re hoping to gain advertisers.
From a purely business standpoint, they don’t need to have advertisers. Their day-to-day operations are funded by the Qatari oil sheiks.