60 replies to this topic

[Daniel]

Honestly, it's a good move...Obermann was probably planning a trip to some island anyway.. MSNBC gets some free publicity, gets to appear as some sort of credible news agency, and hopes it will increase ratings.. It's a win, win..

[Wilfrid]

It makes sense that MSNBC, a sister network to NBC and a unit of General Electric, would want to dispel the notion that it is sympathetic to liberal causes.

What? I mean... what?

Respecting our no discussion of politics rule, it's possible MSNBC may be lusting after the higher ratings that the so called conservative channel has generated. Fox News is way out in front, MSNBC and CNN are fighting for a distant second place....

(Didn't make a lot of sense to me, either)

I'm sure they are; I just can't comprehend the comment that they are trying to dispel the notion that they're chasing Fox by offering a more liberal alternative. I thought they were promoting that notion. Of course, I may be naive about this. I remember being startled to discover, some years ago, that Elton John was not "out."

[Rail Paul]

Honestly, it's a good move...Obermann was probably planning a trip to some island anyway.. MSNBC gets some free publicity, gets to appear as some sort of credible news agency, and hopes it will increase ratings.. It's a win, win..

Olbermann sometimes comes across a a real howling at the moon nutjob, which probably turns off some people who would otherwise enjoy and appreciate his show. It's interesting that he and Rachel Maddow, who follows him, have almost identical ratings / viewership, which surprises me. I just figured she would draw more.

O'Reilly trounces Keith by 3 to 1 in the 8pm and 11pm slots, while Hannity dominates Maddow by just a bit more than 2 to 1. Hannity loses a lot of the O'Reilly audience.

I wonder how their advertising rates compare? Who has the more attractive demographic?

[g.johnson]

Who has the more attractive demographic?

O'Reilly's demographic:



(So delete me.)

[hollywood]

Honestly, it's a good move...Obermann was probably planning a trip to some island anyway.. MSNBC gets some free publicity, gets to appear as some sort of credible news agency, and hopes it will increase ratings.. It's a win, win..

Olbermann sometimes comes across a a real howling at the moon nutjob, which probably turns off some people who would otherwise enjoy and appreciate his show. It's interesting that he and Rachel Maddow, who follows him, have almost identical ratings / viewership, which surprises me. I just figured she would draw more.

O'Reilly trounces Keith by 3 to 1 in the 8pm and 11pm slots, while Hannity dominates Maddow by just a bit more than 2 to 1. Hannity loses a lot of the O'Reilly audience.

I wonder how their advertising rates compare? Who has the more attractive demographic?

Isn't it the case that O'Reilly's demographic is prone to dying.

[splinky]

Honestly, it's a good move...Obermann was probably planning a trip to some island anyway.. MSNBC gets some free publicity, gets to appear as some sort of credible news agency, and hopes it will increase ratings.. It's a win, win..

Olbermann sometimes comes across a a real howling at the moon nutjob, which probably turns off some people who would otherwise enjoy and appreciate his show. It's interesting that he and Rachel Maddow, who follows him, have almost identical ratings / viewership, which surprises me. I just figured she would draw more.

O'Reilly trounces Keith by 3 to 1 in the 8pm and 11pm slots, while Hannity dominates Maddow by just a bit more than 2 to 1. Hannity loses a lot of the O'Reilly audience.

I wonder how their advertising rates compare? Who has the more attractive demographic?

Isn't it the case that O'Reilly's demographic is prone to dying.

you mean the thing where they drown, while looking up during a rainstorm

[Rail Paul]

I know the CNBC daytime ad rates are thru the roof, even though their numbers are quite small. I don't have a sense about how much is charged for Hannity, Maddow, O'Reilly, etc. It would probably be a good indicator of the relative attractiveness of the demographic.

Maybe next week I'll tune in and note who's advertising on the various programs. If it's the Sham-Wow! guy, I may not last long doing this...

[Rail Paul]

Two days suspension. Guess that was all the ratings pain the network could take.

NEW YORK (Nov. 7) -- MSNBC says Keith Olbermann will be back on the air Tuesday, ending his suspension for violating NBC's rules against making political donations.

MSNBC's chief executive Phil Griffin said late Sunday that after several days of deliberation, he had determined that two days off the air was "an appropriate punishment for his violation of our policy."

The left-leaning cable network's most popular personality acknowledged donating $2,400 apiece to the campaigns of Kentucky Senate candidate Jack Conway and Arizona Reps. Raul Grijalva and Gabrielle Giffords. NBC News prohibits its employees from making political donations unless an exception is granted in advance by the network news president. In this case, Olbermann's bosses didn't know about them until being informed by a reporter.

[hollywood]

ya gotta love a network with prinicples!

[Ron Johnson]

I wonder if Fox News will offer him a 2M contract?

[backstory]

I wonder if Fox News will offer him a 2M contract?

i wonder if he will take it if offered.

[splinky]

i hope he enjoyed his long weekend

[Steve R.]

Actually, I'm pretty confused about this suspension. At least Fox makes it pretty clear (if not accurate) that they differentiate between those who are reporting the news and those who are commentators & hold them accountable differently. Is MSNBC saying that Olbermann is a reporter, not someone who's clearly biased and editorializing? If so, they've lost me in that argument. I might (& do) stand to the left of center but I cant see how claiming non-bias when there's clearly one helps anything. Glenn Beck and the legions of Fox commentators are not objective reporters & its obvious every day that they have a political agenda. I dont see anything different about Olbermann other than the fact that I tend to agree with him and have extreme dislike for the others.

[Rail Paul]

i hope he enjoyed his long weekend

I doubt MSNBC could afford to have him off the air for very long. He's their biggest evening draw by far, so they may already have "make goods" for current advertisers based on reduced viewership.

He'll get a good bump tonight as people tune in to see what he says about the two day vacation.

[splinky]

Actually, I'm pretty confused about this suspension. At least Fox makes it pretty clear (if not accurate) that they differentiate between those who are reporting the news and those who are commentators & hold them accountable differently. Is MSNBC saying that Olbermann is a reporter, not someone who's clearly biased and editorializing? If so, they've lost me in that argument. I might (& do) stand to the left of center but I cant see how claiming non-bias when there's clearly one helps anything. Glenn Beck and the legions of Fox commentators are not objective reporters & its obvious every day that they have a political agenda. I dont see anything different about Olbermann other than the fact that I tend to agree with him and have extreme dislike for the others.

it's possible that his paycheck comes from the news division and where your check is drawn tends to determine the rules, regardless of your actual role. nbc has always had entertainment folks as employees of its various news divisions and in the past, it's made problems about secondary gigs that news division employees wanted to take or stands they wanted to take on public issues. in future they will probably have weigh olbermann's potential to need to protect sources and other special fancy news division stuff against his commercial appeal and stuff he wants to be able to do in his real life and make the necessary changes to his contract.