DLA Piper has taken the lead role for Qatar-based news network Al Jazeera on its acquisition of former US vice president Al Gore's cable television channel Current TV.

The US-based news channel was co-founded by Gore (pictured) and and former Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison lawyer Joel Hyatt. The value of the deal was undisclosed, but is widely estimated to be worth around $500m (£309m).

DLA Piper advised Al Jazeera with a team comprising New York intellectual property chair and deputy chair of global sports, media and entertainment Frank Ryan, Washington DC-based corporate and securities partner Eric Geppert and Washington DC M&A partner Michael Reed.

Meanwhile, Silicon Valley-based firm Gunderson Dettmer represented Current TV with a team including founding partner Robert Gunderson Jr and corporate partners Brooks Stough and Michael Irvine.

US firm Steptoe & Son advised Current TV on regulatory matters, with a team including partner Stewart Baker, antitrust partner Timothy Walsh, business and security partner Stephen Heifetz and corporate partners Kevin Olson and Nancy White, while Hogan Lovells also provided counsel.

Current TV is available to 60 million homes in the US, with cable and satellite services, according to the company's website. Al Jazeera will close the channel and begin its own broadcast, Al-Jazeera America, which is set to launch later this year.

Al Jazeera, which launched in 1996, has in recent years made a number of big-name recruits for its English language broadcasts, including Sir David Frost and Rageh Omaar.

Al Jazeera director-general Ahmed bin Jassim Al Thani said in a statement: "By acquiring Current TV, Al Jazeera will significantly expand our existing distribution footprint in the US, as well as increase our newsgathering and reporting efforts in America."

Last October Al Jazeera instructed SNR Denton on an extension of its agreement with communications company Arqiva, enabling the news channel to broadcast 24 hours daily on Freeview. SNR Denton's team was led by communications partner Ingrid Silver.