Just days after it was announced that Al Jazeera was purchasing Current TV, the network's Eliot Spitzer, who helmed the key timeslot for the network, has bowed out. But it wasn't because of the buyout; he was planning to leave anyway. Here's why:

For Mr. Spitzer, the amicable separation is unsurprising. Last spring, nine months after his CNN talk show was canceled, Mr. Gore and Mr. Hyatt abruptly asked him to take over the 8 p.m. time slot on Current. The reason: the 8 p.m. host Keith Olbermann was about to be fired.

Mr. Spitzer was, by his own account, “thrilled” to do it, but it was never a full-time job, nor a long-term one. His contract expired after the presidential election in November.

Mr. Spitzer, who resigned the New York governorship in 2008 shortly after his liaisons with prostitutes were made public, is presumed by many people to harbor political ambitions. Asked if they were right to presume that, he said in a telephone interview, “Others presume I have the ambitions.” He laughed and added, “Let me leave it at that for now.”

Comedian John Fugelsang, who has become well-known as a political commentator in recent years, will replace Spitzer in the slot. As for other figures at the network, The Young Turks is open to staying on the network but is unsure if they’ll be sticking around, and Jay Leno mocked the new ownership, asking network personality Joy Behar, “Now what happened to Current TV? Osama bin Laden is your new boss?”