MSNBC, for a change, makes a good decision.
After reportedly seeking a four-fold increase on his pay, MSNBC anchor Keith Olbermann renewed his contract with the network for four more years. Per the deal, he will continue hosting Countdown with Keith Olbermann, and take on new roles contributing occasional essays to NBC’s Nightly News and hosting two primetime Countdown specials a year on NBC.
Somewhere Bill O’Reilly is grinding his teeth and it’s good.
Well, ‘good’ decision is debatable. I guess they figured they wouldn’t want to take a chance with somebody that might have worse ratings than Olbermann. And Olbermann largely has Bill O’Reilly to thank for that increase to a whopping 700K that watch per night.
Mmm…delicious grapes.
For some reason, this “BillO is still teh King!” type rhetoric reminds me a lot of the following exchange:
On October 6, 1997, in response to the question of what he’d do if he was in charge of Apple Computer, Dell founder and then CEO Michael Dell stood before a crowd of several thousand IT executives and answered flippantly, “What would I do? I’d shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders.“
Apple has now surpassed Dell in market value, and has seen its position slip because of succumbing “to complacency in the belief that its business model would always keep it far ahead of the pack.”
So yes, Fox News, keep running with the same tired “liberals are the enemy” routine as if Rush Limbaugh was fresh and new, no need to change anything (hell, give the man his own comedy show, I’m sure no one will notice the canned laughter!) Keep beating that old “Evil Dems will eat your babies!” drum, and people will continue to watch your drivel for ever and ever and ever.
CNN was king of the hill for a long time, Fox came along and did something different and is now the current king. MSNBC tried too long to just ape the leaders, they’re now doing something different and gaining viewers – not at Fox levels yet, but then Fox wasn’t at Fox levels a few years ago either.
I agree with Jay but for different reasons. If they dropped Olbermann, they would receive massive backlash from MM , TVnewser, C&L and other Olby propaganda outlets. I really don’t think O’Reilly cares. Why? Because he ignores him.
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Oliver,
That was a different time, different place. CNN was the ONLY cable news network at the time. Then two more emerged. All three have a hold on their markets. CNN is for moderate-liberal Dems, MSNBC is for liberals, and FOX is for moderate-conservatives.
I really don’t think O’Reilly cares. Why? Because he ignores him.
Yep, he sure tends to ignore Olbermann very loudly and often.
CNN did not lose to Fox until 2002 (long after FNC and MSNBC had launched and had national carriage). Fox appeals to the hard right (most of the people watching them believe WMDs were found in Iraq) while independents and Dems are split between MSNBC and CNN.
And you slamming them when you’ve built your profile in blogging (Political Teen, HotAir) by excerpting video clips just like C+L and the others you cite is just kinda funny.
As August mentioned, he ignores MSNBC so much he talks about them every day and night.
O’rilly only ignores him when they are in the same room. Avoiding eye contact, staying a safe distance, that sort of thing.
That’s a hilarious analysis: Fox is all conservative all the time, MSNBC is mainly conservative with Tucker Carlson, Chris Matthews and Joe Scarborough, CNN is largely conservative with their reporters and Headline News racist Glenn Beck. You can check on Media Matters and search each network for a fine factual analysis of their reporting.
O’Reilly still maintains his lead, but Olbermann has beat him in the one demographic a time or two. Olbermann is beating all other MSNBC shows and CNN. O’Reilly has tried to make a petition to force MSNBC to remove Olbermann so he cares, baby, Der Pompous Ass cares.
Correction: You mean FOX started to whoop CNN in 2002. They were strong competitors LONG before then. Oliver, please don’t say FOX is for hard right-wingers and then say MSNBC is for “independents” and “Dems”. If you’re going to use such rhetoric for Fox, at least admit MSNBC appeals to liberals. I’m not saying anything wrong is with that, it’s good for business to get that niche. But, just admit it.
What are you talking about? Your comparing apples to oranges. What does me posting video have to do with C&L and other blogs having ties with Olbermann? And you know this is true. We have a common friend who knows this.
And? We’re not talking about MSNBC (actually he talks about NBC), we’re talking about Olby.
Very smart decision. MSNBC knows who brings those ratings in.
The only show on Fox that was close to CNN pre-2002 was O’Reilly vs. King. I’ve got no dog in that hunt, CNN got dumb and lazy and deserved to lose to Fox who political content aside presented news in a new, dynamic style. Fox has an exclusively pro-conservative bias to their content, they even identify themselves as such nowadays as they’ve seen their numbers – still very high for cable news – begin to erode.
I’ve been saying a long time that MSNBC should appeal to those turned off by Fox’s pro-Republican spinning. It doesn’t mean they have to be liberal, but just express the kind of skepticism of GOP politics you wouldn’t ever see on Fox, and they’re doing that with folks like Joe Scarborough.
I’m not exactly sure what “ties” you’re claiming about blogs and Olbermann other than they both get ideas from each other, like how you guys feed stuff to Fox via HotAir (with you guys, what’s good for the goose is always “unfair” for the gander).
The whole reason Olbermann talks about NBC (they’re the NBC in MSNBC in case you haven’t noticed) is because Olbermann started punching at him. As part of an organization that has fact-checked O’Reilly a few bajillion times it doesn’t take a juggernaut to get him riled and raving.
bahahahahahaha haha haaaahahahaaa
Only posting this to try and fix the tags but still, BWAAAAHAHAHA
Didn’t work. Arse.
Hey I like having the choice. Leftist yahoos can bathe in Olbermanns Nazi salur humor and we can enjoy Fox’s ‘fair and balanced’ programming.
BTW, there are leftists I would watch and listen to. Herr Olbermann is not one. Like Nimmer, too morally superior when really clueless.
Oliver,
I don’t want you to think I am just ignoring what you said. I addressed some of what you said in the new thread. I just don’t want to have two arguments on the same subject in two different threads.
I just want to address your comment about FOX’s ratings. It wasn’t 2002 when FOX “just began” catching up. It was since 1999-2000, I believe. And it wasn’t like Olby gets (1/4 – 1/5 of Bill O). It was like 1/2 or 3/4 for a while.
Dugger, Olberman’s not clueless, but you certainly are. Unlike you, he loves this country. Unlike O’Reilly, he’s not scum.
Fox overtook CNN in 2002. They had a new product and time to build, ditto now for Olbermann – as you cons like to say, the market will decide but clearly Olbermann drives BillO nuts.
Whatever you say Olly. Whatever helps you sleep at night. But remember, Bill O. kicks Keith’s ass in ratings and that’s all that matters.
I never said otherwise. Foxnews.com gets way higher traffic than MediaMatters.org but it doesn’t prevent us from driving O’Reilly nuts.
So, y’all think it’s unfair when Olbermann names O’Rilly WPITW for defending a child predator on the air?