** UPDATED** Whoa. Keith Olbermann Announces His Resignation
On MSNBC just now Keith Olbermann announced that today’s show was last one. No other information is available but a tweet from @BreakingNews said his contract wasn’t renewed. Speculation?
Hmmmmmm…will we soon see the Olbermann Post?
But the sudden departure has a history, and the timing does not rule out a preemptive MSNBC move. The gadfly commentator first told the network last April that he wanted to leave and began negotiating his exit then, according to an individual with knowledge of the situation.
Olbermann abandoned the notion of leaving at that time but revived his plans in recent weeks with new representation from the talent agency ICM.
With two years left on his $7 million a year contract, Olbermann was seeking a full exit package but he really has his eye on creating his own media empire in the style of Huffington Post, according to the individual. That way, Olbermann would control his own brand and, in his view, potentially earn far more as an owner.
If this is the story then this could be really exciting. Could we see a real liberal media channel?
Tags: Keith Olbermann, MSNBC
NYTimes says that MSNBC ended Olbermann’s contract.
The Comcast overlords, perhaps?
“In a second statement, MSNBC president Phil Griffin announced a reshaped primetime lineup that will begin Monday. “The Last Word With Laurence O’Donnell” will move two hours earlier to 8 p.m., “The Rachel Maddow Show” will continue to air at 9 p.m. and “The Ed Show” will move to 10 p.m. Cenk Ungur will fill in as the host of the 6 p.m. hour.”
From Politico
More from Politico:
If Keith jumps to CNN, I’ll follow.
But I doubt CNN has the balls to show real news, so I’m guessing this is the end of news.
My nose is bothering me. I want to know the backstory. It might determine the degree of my interest in MSNBC.
Anderson Cooper is talking about it now. I think there’s enough evidence to suggest that this is Comcast’s first decision post-merger.
As a Comcast customer in a large apartment building, I am turning off my television and DVR for the next 36 hours or so. I invite any of you to join me. If you use another cable provider, I encourage you to boycott NBC channels, including NBC, MSNBC, Syfy, USA, A&E, Bravo, CNBC, Oxygen, and the Weather Channel, along with Comcast channels, which inclue E!, G4, Style Network, Golf Channel, Versus, and FearNet. If you’d like to cancel your Comcast subscription, the number is 1-800-COMCAST.
maybe Laura Ingraham took him back and he will appear on Fox making Glennypoo look like Shep.
but seriously, this is a sad day for truth. Jon Stewart’s life just got more difficult.
Seriously xstryker that’s extremely paranoid even for here.
NYT reports the terms of Keith’s settlement prevent him from jumping to another network for a period of time (just like Conan)/
I am a captive Comcast customer because I have no other option in my apartment. I can say with first hand knowledge that Comcast is a festering pit of malevolence and villainy. That’s not paranoia, it’s informed experience.
so, are we gonna call him Ki-Ki? that sounds a bit… and seriously, no offense intended here,. gay.
Here is a fun question….. do we know who is replacing Gibbs? could that happen? could Obama finally say “fuck you” to the hate wing?
As a Comcast customer in a large apartment building, I am turning off my television and DVR for the next 36 hours or so. I invite any of you to join me
Oh yeah, that’ll show em! Don’t you subscribers shell out over $50/month? Aren’t you being “nickeled and dimed” unabashedly? I guess you really need your jersey snooky thing. I’ve read that in our Bush induced depression that a there’s a surprising low rate of CATV cancellations. Really? Do you know that our fed gov stole each American citizens property in the UHF/VHF frequencies and sold them off to telecoms? Is that acceptable as long as your obsession over your sweatshop made iphones or dingleberries maintain an inconstant connectivity? Gotta get the latest app! My most recent app was a digital converter box F-ing mandated and subsidized by our dear leaders and falls far short of the reception I had with aluminum foil and rabbit ears. My oldest app is the one I treasure most: a library card. At least my fellow dems failed Sheldon who planned on removing DVDs from public libraries.
Comcast gets NBC. Clearchannel owns AM radio, that thing where your podcasts originate. Get one message ! Get it everywhere always!
I grew up with rotary phones & record stores and I had it way too easy.
I have no other option
Really?
Yes, really. I cannot get satellite here. My internet is included with my rent, which is also comcast. I literally cannot watch any television whatsoever without money going to Comcast.
My oldest app is the one I treasure most: a library card.
Hear, hear!
“C’mon Delaware Podcast Featuring Your Host Jason and his panel Donviti and Keith Olberman”
BTW – How can Comcast be the Mos Eisley of cable companies when Dish Network is? (Actually, Dish Network isn’t so bad. I just wanted to get the mos Isely reference in there.)
This is not the blog comment you are looking for.
This is what happens when the oligarchs own and control the media. How soon until the debut of the Ed Rendell Show on MSNBC? After all, the ‘Guv’ already appears on Eagles Post-Game Live on, uh, Comcast Sports Net. I’m sure it has nothing to do with the way Rendell kissed Comcast’s butt as Guv.
On topic….poor Olberman.
Off topic… Because of the bucolic nature of where I built my home, there is no “cable television.” I have subscribed to both Dish Network and Direct TV. A true “be happy for what you have” moment dawned on me when a “city friend” (Rehoboth Beach, I think) was literally ranting about Comcast’s poor customer service and asked about the DN/DTV customer service. My honest reply was “I don’t know.” In nearly 20 years, I have never had to call them about anything.
I always found Olbermann kind of grating and hard to listen to, even though I usually agree with him. His delivery kind of makes me tune out to what he is actually saying. He is easier to take in writing.
I don’t really want to see him set out to create a “liberal” media empire. Any successful liberal media empire would have to be first of all a legitimate news organization, not just a mecca for liberal polemicists. Suggested slogan: “The Reality-Based Network.”
X – if you want to send a message to Comcast, turn off the TV and watch all your content via your Comcast internet connection on non-Comcast web sites. They hate that. Netflix is a good example.
“Any successful liberal media empire would have to be first of all a legitimate news organization, not just a mecca for liberal polemicists.”
a) Even the most demanded litmus test for your hypothetical “legitimate” news organization (e.g. whatever fake “he said/she said” balance you want to build into it) would leave the Republicans claiming that it was irredeemable liberal if it had the gall to occasionally broadcast the truth.
b) Why is it that only liberals are bound by these sorts of pre-conditions anyway?
I guess you have a point; the first head of FNC was Roger Ailes.
I hope if he starts a new media organization he throws out the “legitimate” news handbook.
By legitimate I don’t mean the old “he-said/she-said.” I just mean a network that is solely a collection of liberal opinion pieces does not have much of a future.
I think a liberal (reality-based) news outfit needs to be backed up first of all by a solid fact-checking operation, so every news story can include an immediate evaluation backed up by a credible library of facts and debunked myths.
Horray
The Olbermann ouster was prefaced by the Comcast takeover but not directly demanded by it. The merger removed Jeff Zucker and paved the way for Phil Griffin to finally just straight out fire KO.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/01/22/business/main7271665.shtml
I will not be watching the insipid neoliberal Lawrence O’Donnell.
I was wondering about why Cenk Uygur lasted about two weeks at the MSNBC 3PM timeslot last month but it is obviously all about Griffin. Griffin also supported Joe Scarborough’s demand to boycott Cos, of the Daily Cos. Just can’t really support liberals a’tall. Maddow does an awful lot of HIGH DEM fealty for my taste but is still a superb investigative reporter.
Olbermann has been fired at least twice in his previous media gigs. He has no Emotional Intelligence, and lashes out, unprofessionally when he doesn’t get his way.
It was inevitable that Comcast was going to shake things up, especially at MSNBC, where it has lost major credibility as a suppossed news organization.
Of course Olbermann wants to be like Sarah, Arianna, Rush, Beck et al., and push his own BRAND. That way, he doesn’t have to generally follow any corporate rules or ethics.
I guarantee you, behind closed doors, Olbermann gets a ‘talkin to’ once a month at MSNBC for his unbridled, biased diatribes. Just the tone of his voice is enough to get rid of him. He almost lost it during the illness of his father.
Every commentator and person alike has parents, bust most, if not all of us, don’t use their parents’ illness as an ideological tool.
It’s about time.
Btw, Glenn Beck should be fired at Fox. He too discredits an otherwise solid news organization. One more fired swap (get rid of Ed Shultz and Sean Hannity too).
Um, Newshound, Comcast has not yet taken over NBC-Universal and from my understanding of the merger, Comcast is staying away from NBC News and all of its functions, like MSNBC. But thanks for your faux outrage.
I fired Comcast today! If you believe the right wing corporate media will keep Rachel, Schultz, Radigan et al, think again. These corporate giant are going to turn MSNBC into another faux news network. Keith’s contract forbids him from joining any other network for two years….just long enough for teabagging repukes to win another election. If you think those lib left will challenge their bosses…forget it. Thousands of emails were sent to Msnbc today by Keiths supporters. So many one of the two honchos shut their site down. Despicable! If you feel strongly about the issue, why dont you get rid of comcast too…fire em, send them a message.
MJ: many sources reporting the deal was done two days ago…signed and sealed where did you get your information?
We can all watch the new “onion network” on IFC!
i remember when Y-100 was shut down so clear channel could have an 8th R&B/HipHop station in the Philly area. Thousands of people sent angry emails, there were boycotts…. i for one set 100.1 and 100.5 on my presets so i wouldn’t even land on 100.3
the result… the BEAT continues to do poorly, and the head honchos still don’t care what the customers think.
If you think anything you do will cause any amount of concern to Comcast, you are kidding yourself. They knew they would piss off some progressives and did it anyway.
Where is the proof that this had anything to do with Comcast? The only thing I read is that Olbermann wanted out some time ago.
Dana there is no proof, it’s just tilting at windmill conspiracy shit, kind of like the immediate response to the Giffords shooting. Damn, sometimes it’s embarrassing to be a liberal.
Damn, sometimes it’s embarrassing to be a liberal.
I don’t think you have to worry about that, pal.
I didn’t say fringe leftist.
Newshound wrote:
“Btw, Glenn Beck should be fired at Fox. He too discredits an otherwise solid news organization.”
Yes he should. No he doesn’t.
Since its inception, Fox News has been propaganda masquerading as news. Anyone who willfully ignores this all-too-obvious point is engaging in propaganda as well. An entire ‘news’ organization dedicated to promulgating Rethug talking points and boosting Rethug political fortunes. Rethug propagandists would have you believe that Olbermann on the left=Beck on the right. That simply is not true, but it’s exactly the type of false equivalency that they engage in.
You know, like both sides engage in political rhetoric designed to encourage political violence. Only one side consistently does this, and those who claim that some obscure guy on the left saying something = the hundreds of hatemongers on the right who do it on a daily basis are also engaging in false equivalencies.
Thought this was too funny; from:
Patrick Dorinson
Commentator and Publisher of The Cowboy Libertarian
“If anyone here in the Arena thinks the dismissal of Olbermann, the apotheosis of Jeffrey Immelt to the Obama pantheon of business heroes and the consummation of the Comcast-NBC-Universal deal are a mere coincidence, I have some swampland in Florida to sell you.
I can imagine the phone conversation.
President Obama: Hey Jeff, Barack here. Say I want you to lead another useless White House commission on jobs and competitiveness. I gave Volcker the door and now I need to show I am pro-business — all for show, you understand. Nothing ever comes of these things, but I want to shut the Chamber of Commerce up. God, they are a pain.
Immelt: Sounds great Mr. President, count me in. Do I still get to be CEO of General Electric so I can use the platform to promote my global company and the “green economy” myth? It will sure help my bonus package.
Obama: No problem Jeff. Make all the money you want. You are one of us — you know, an elitist that the bumpkins in the tea party despise. And keep doing your thing with the “green jobs” myth. I am counting on it since that is the direction I think the country should go in. I have no real world experience to judge that on, but it sounds good in a speech. We need more subsidized solar companies like Evergreen in Massachusetts. Check that, they did just move all their jobs to China. Well, you know what I mean.
But Jeff, you need to help me in this whole “civility” debate that is going on. How about you fire Keith Olbermann to show that MSNBC is going to be a leader in this thing? Might put some pressure on Fox to tone it down and then Brian Williams on Nightly News can keep pounding the right on their lack of civility. And maybe it’s time to say “sayonara” to Chris Matthews or at least put him on some medication.
My pollsters tell me that we need the mainstream media — NY Times, NBC, ABC, CBS to make this whole “civility” thing part of the narrative as we head into 2012. Axelrod loves it.
Immelt: Great idea, Mr. President. I will talk to Brian right away and put the plan into action.
Obama: And wait until the State of the Union. I am going to have Rep. Gabrielle Gifford’s husband Mark Kelly in the gallery with Michelle. That will shut those damn Republicans up. Oh sorry Jeff, you are a Republican. But you are the good kind a RINO (Republican in Name Only)
Immelt: No problem Mr. President, you are on a roll. Talk to you soon.
Too bad Keith. I never watched you and considered you just a recycled sportscaster from ESPN. Didn’t they fire you?
But you have or had a right to your opinion. Poor sucker, you probably thought they would take down Rush or Hannity before you. Not a chance you were in the crosshairs … oops bad word … all the time as a sacrificial lamb.
And now a fable. There once was a woman with two sons. One went to sea and the other became a host of an MSNBC talk show. And neither was heard from again.
Farewell Keith. I hope the severance check was big. It’s a tough job market out there.”
Considering the replacements announced, it seems to me that the folks at MSNBC simply decided they could get even more crazy talk for even less money.
Anon – NY Times, Wash Post, Denver Post, LA Times, and on and on and on. Where did you get YOUR info that the deal was done 2 days ago. Hell, DOJ just signed off on it last week.
http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/22/olbermanns-msnbc-exit-was-weeks-in-the-making/?hp – Comcast issued an official statement Friday denying any involvement in the decision, saying it had no operational control of the company yet, and adding: “We pledged from the day the deal was announced that we would not interfere with NBC Universal’s news operations. We have not and we will not.”
Resignation???
Is that the new word for getting fired?
I love that COMCAST quote. To me it says, “Make sure you fire him before we take operational control so that we can have plausible deniability.”
im not inclined to believe anything that Palinite, Ed Snider has to say.
I’m just saying, unless you have proof that Comcast ordered this, you need to stop with the conspiracy bullshit.
unless you have proof that Comcast ordered this, you need to stop with the conspiracy bullshit.
HA HA HA ha ha ha….
The author of this post asked for speculation.
Thanks for playing though. Do you have to wear a little uniform to be a martinet?
What passes for major media are controlled by Fox, Time/Warner, COMCAST, et al. It is not conspiracy bullshit to point out that the corporations controlling the media have a lot to lose if a truly independent media pointed out the debilitating effect this kind of control has on the what kind of news/opinion that you see and how widely it’s disseminated. When coupled with the phony ‘liberal media’ meme circulated by Fox News and its echo chamber, is it any wonder that there really IS no such thing as a preeminent large media outlet with a progressive bias?
This all goes back to when Newt Gingrich and his cohorts passed legislation paving the way for the Murdochs of this world by allowing multinational billionaires to own BOTH newspapers and electronic media. Which, by the way, helped to kill newspapers.
mj, how can you NOT think Comcast had something to do with this? They may not have directly ordered the firing, but im sure they had their hands in it. I think we need to keep a very watchful eye on MSNBC. Comcast could soon give Newscorps a run for it’s money.
The new owner of the “left wing version of fox news” is an active conservative.
This merger eliminates another notch of diversity of speech and as the trend towards mega media consolidation can be expected to do, funnels messaging towards the one, the one ‘true’ message: 1984 and the Brave New World.
We should be furious with the FCC.
With this merger, a Bushie fundraising ‘ranger’ is now at the top of yet another heap of media control.
Yes, I did ask for speculation.
The various reports I’ve seen this weekend indicate that Olbermann had been negotiating an exit since April. He wanted more money and more control. The talks had stopped but tensions had been high since his suspension. The Comcast merger meant Zucker was out, who was Olbermann’s supporter. That meant the other guy (whose name I forget) could now get rid of Olbermann. So it was a firing, basically.
“We should be furious with the FCC. With this merger, a Bushie fundraising ‘ranger’ is now at the top of yet another heap of media control.”
How can one be furious with what appears to be the natural order of the universe? I don’t know when we, as a country, decided that the all media needed to be in the hands of the extreme right wing ideologues, but we seem to have come to that conclusion. Just as we have concluded that the NRA sets all gun control policy.
SB and anon – speculation is one thing, but the conspiracy theories makes y’all sound like a bunch of teabaggers. I’m waiting for you to start screaming about the Man coming for your guns.
What conspiracy theory? I said Comcast with their well known Ayn Rand fan, Palinte leader Ed Snider probably had something to do with Olbermann leaving….. even if it was him deciding he couldn’t work for such a company.
MJ, since when do you defend super rich and powerful libertarians who like to shut down progressive voices?
“The Comcast merger meant Zucker was out, who was Olbermann’s
supportersole protector. That meant the other guy (whose name I forget) could now get rid of Olbermann”……to the delight of pretty much everyone who had to work or deal with him at MSNBC, corporate or production or whatever.
Apparently Keef was every bit the condescending self-important blowhard behind the camera as he was on-air.
Of course the notoriously-difficult Olby proved equally popular on-air, consistently repelling even viewers who might otherwise agree with his strain of extremist dreck.
No need for a corporate merger conspiracy to figure out why a commercial broadcast cable network with the slightest business sense would swiftly jettison a nasty pompous primadonna with no ratings.
There are plenty of far less odious wannabes available to trowl out lefty red meat in primetime.
He may not get the free market, but the free market sure got him and he has burned so many bridges he’ll be lucky to land a weekly graveyard slot at QVC.
God bless wingnut talking points. I appreciate never having to be surprised by any conservative nonsense that gets posted here.