[Cholly]

Olbermann Split Came After Years of Tension

MSNBC never had any doubt about what it was getting when it made Keith Olbermann the face of the network in 2003: a highly talented broadcaster, a distinctive and outspoken voice and a mercurial personality with a track record of attacking his superiors and making early exits.

Even his own boss, Phil Griffin, offered this assessment in 2008, when Mr. Olbermann was being heavily criticized by supporters of Hillary Rodham Clinton because he was urging her to drop out of the race to become the Democratic presidential candidate.

For Mrs. Clinton’s supporters, Mr. Griffin said in an interview with The New Yorker magazine, “It was, like, you meet a guy and fall in love with him.” But, he said, “then you commit yourself to him, and he turns out to be a jerk and difficult and brutal.”

Still, the news of his abrupt departure from “Countdown” — delivered by Mr. Olbermann on Friday night — came as a shock to his many fans, some of whom accused Comcast, the incoming owner of MSNBC’s parent, NBC Universal, of forcing out the host for political reasons.

Many people inside the television industry are astonished that a cable network’s highest-rated host, whose forceful personality and liberal advocacy had lifted MSNBC from irrelevance to competitiveness and profitability, would be ushered out the door with no fanfare, no promoted farewell show and only a perfunctory thanks for his efforts.

But underlying the decision, which one executive involved said was not a termination but a “negotiated separation,” were years of behind-the-scenes tension, conflicts and near terminations.

Mr. Griffin, along with Jeff Zucker, the head of NBC Universal, and Steve Capus, the president of NBC News, had long protected and defended Mr. Olbermann, even when insiders like the NBC anchor emeritus Tom Brokaw publicly took Mr. Olbermann to task. Mr. Brokaw said Mr. Olbermann had “gone too far” in campaign coverage that openly took Democratic positions.

Inside the offices of MSNBC, staff members grew more restive about Mr. Olbermann’s temperament. Some days Mr. Olbermann threatened not to come to work at all and a substitute anchor had to be notified to be on standby.

Mr. Olbermann was within one move of being fired in November after he was suspended for making donations to Democratic Congressional candidates. He threatened to make an appearance on ABC’s “Good Morning America” to protest the suspension; Mr. Zucker was prepared to fire him on the spot if he did, according to a senior NBC Universal executive who declined to be identified in discussing confidential deliberations.

The pattern of great promise followed by eventual disaffection was established early in Mr. Olbermann’s career. As a young sports reporter for UPI Television, he was fired for telling his boss “this is the minor leagues here.” In the early 1980s, he had a short, stormy tenure at CNN.

He achieved national prominence on ESPN’s “SportsCenter” in the early 1990s, but left after a difficult time that included a reprimand for making an appearance on “The Daily Show” without permission. He labeled his departure from ESPN in 1997 a “nuclear war.”

Mr. Olbermann popped up on MSNBC for the first time in 1998, hosting a news show that evolved, against his wishes, into a nightly examination of the Clinton sex scandal. He left and joined the Fox Sports Network. That stint ended in acrimony as well. Rupert Murdoch, head of the News Corporation, which ran the sports network, later said, “I fired him; he’s crazy.”

He joined MSNBC in 2003 as a fill-in host. Less than two months later, Mr. Olbermann won the job full time. He transformed the show into “Countdown,” and he — and MSNBC — were off and running.

He managed to expand his audience steadily. Starting from a base of a couple hundred thousand viewers, he jumped more than 50 percent from 2006 to 2007, reaching 726,000. From there he built the show until it surpassed one million viewers a night, still well behind Fox News but ahead of CNN.

In a New Yorker interview, Mr. Griffin of MSNBC recalled those early appearances: “First day he was in TV, I knew right away that Keith had something that I’d never seen. He was made for this. I mean, the guy is crazy, but he is made for this.”

(In the same interview, Mr. Olbermann could not help commenting: “Phil thinks he’s my boss.”)

Even some of those at MSNBC who acknowledged being spurned or insulted by Mr. Olbermann said they remained in awe of his productivity and the effect he had on the network. Several considered him in essence a five-day-a-week editorial writer, who had to perform his editorial live on television.

It was an “incredible energy expenditure,” one longtime acquaintance of his said, suggesting that there was no reason to think Mr. Olbermann would stay in his chair indefinitely.

Mr. Olbermann himself alluded to the stresses of the job when he said on Friday night, “There were many occasions, particularly in the last two and a half years, where all that surrounded the show, but never the show itself, was just too much for me.”

In an interview, Mr. Griffin acknowledged that Mr. Olbermann was a “brand definer” for MSNBC — not just because of the success of “Countdown” but because his show was used to develop other hosts for the network as well.

Rachel Maddow started as a frequent “Countdown” guest, as did Lawrence O’Donnell, who began as a fill-in host for Mr. Olbermann and will inherit his 8 p.m. time slot on Monday. Mr. Griffin called Mr. Olbermann “the tent pole at the center” of the network’s sensibility.

At the same time, stories about Mr. Olbermann’s thin skin circulated widely in the newsroom. One such story, which was recalled independently by two hosts, dates to early December, when Mr. O’Donnell, then carving out some success as the 10 p.m. host on MSNBC, collegially proposed via e-mail that Mr. Olbermann come on his show to talk about President Obama’s tax-cut compromise.

Mr. O’Donnell had written this post on Twitter: “Liberal critics of the Obama deal say exactly what Pat Buchanan said of George H. W. Bush: he’s weak.” The message speculated that Mr. Obama’s critics would do to him what Mr. Buchanan “did to H.W. Bush: destroy him and help elect a president from the other party.”

Mr. Olbermann apparently interpreted the message as a personal attack; he declined to appear on Mr. O’Donnell’s show. “I saw what you wrote on Twitter,” he snapped at Mr. O’Donnell.

In the last several months, the relationship began moving toward its denouement: Mr. Olbermann hired new agents from the big firm ICM in September, parting from Jean Sage, the agent who had steered his career through all its previous rocky shoals. Several NBC executives said the move was made to facilitate an eventual settlement of the two years left on Mr. Olbermann’s contract.

Mr. Olbermann’s future is up in the air, mainly because he agreed to a deal that would keep him off television for six to nine months, according to several executives involved in his exit. He is also apparently forbidden to discuss his departure.

One NBC executive involved in the decision to settle Mr. Olbermann’s contract said that he was allowed to work in radio or on the Internet and would presumably be free to return to television in time for the 2012 election cycle.

As for MSNBC, Mr. Griffin expressed confidence in the network’s new lineup: Mr. O’Donnell at 8, Ms. Maddow at 9 and Ed Schultz at 10. It was not clear exactly how long that plan had been in place, however. The anchors did not find out that their shows were shifting until the public announcement on Friday night.

Mr. Griffin said: “I believe the changes that have been made fit who we are. We’re going to be as creative as ever. We’ll be there.”

But they will be there without Mr. Olbermann, the tent pole that the network built itself around.

One NBC News executive said on Sunday: “Give us a bit of credit for getting eight years out of him. That’s the longest he’s been anywhere.”

Well, the author of THAT article doesn't seem biased at all.

I'd take the above B.S. with a tiny grain of sand... not even salt. 

[Cholly]

Everyone is making a big deal about this. MSNBC is ranked 28th......yes 28th among cable TV and Olbermann was their best draw. That's like saying you are the tallest midget in room full of midgets. BFD. GO VIKINGS!!!

Folks, ignore ignorance and check the ratings for yourselves....

http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2011/01/25/life-after-king-and-olbermann-same-as-it-ever-was-cable-news-ratings-for-monday-january-24-2011/80182

[Cholly]

good riddance.

YOU THINK YOU HAVE SEEN THE LAST OF KEITH?  I WON'T TELL YOU WHAT IS HAPPENING.  DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH. 

he won't be on tv anytime soon.  that's a good thing.

I think you are probably wrong about that.  Also, I enjoyed watching his show.

Me too, and I agree..

........me, too, and was actually watching the program last nite when he signed off.  I was just as stunned as everyone else.  His departure leaves a serious void at MSNBC.  Save Rachel Maddow and, perhaps, a couple of others, the rest of that lineup just doesn't intrigue me at all.

I'd ask you to consider or reconsider Lawrence O'Donnell . I've been watching his show and I think he does a good job.

I agree. O'Donnell is EXCELLENT, though I could live without his penchant for ambushing right-wingers so violently.

Tim Russert had a way of making people show who they were while still appearing neutral and professional. Larry gets red hot from time to time....

[Meciber 202]

I thought about what Palin said .... and now wonder why is so easy to "shut-up" the voices on the Left ... what a coincidence. 

It appears the GOP-cons have a lot of "juice" when it involves the media. I heard Comcast is new boss for MSNBC ...

[Wildman78]

Everyone is making a big deal about this. MSNBC is ranked 28th......yes 28th among cable TV and Olbermann was their best draw. That's like saying you are the tallest midget in room full of midgets. BFD. GO VIKINGS!!!

2010 Numbers: MSNBC…
MSNBC is noting its 2010 ratings…

MSNBC BEATS CNN FOR SECOND YEAR IN A ROW IN PRIMETIME – 2010 RATINGS

MSNBC BEATS CNN FOR THE SECOND CONSECUTIVE YEAR IN PRIMETIME AMONG A25-54 AND FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER IN TOTAL VIEWERS

MSNBC Tops CNN in Total Day and Sales Day for the first time ever in A25-54

CNN Hits All-Time Lows at 7 p.m., 8 p.m., and 9 p.m.

NEW YORK – December 20, 2010 – MSNBC ends 2010 on a high note, beating CNN in primetime for the second year in a row among A25-54 and for the first time ever in total viewers, while CNN drops to record lows in primetime.

The following are MSNBC ratings highlights for 2010 (data through December 16, 2010):

* MSNBC ranked #2 in primetime and beat CNN for the second year in a row with A25-54 and for the first time ever in total viewers topping them in M-F (P2+:873,000 vs. 641,000/A25-54: 249,000 vs. 186,000) and M-Su (P2+ 765,000 vs. 595,000/A25-54 249,000 vs. 174,000). CNN had their lowest primetime delivery ever in A25-54 and total viewers.

* In 2010, “Morning Joe” beat CNN’s “American Morning” among total viewers for the first time ever (387,000 vs. 310,000). “Morning Joe” had the best delivery ever for MSNBC in the 6-9 a.m. time slot while CNN had their smallest audience in the time slot since 2000.

* 2010 marks the best total viewer performance in the 6 p.m. hour ever for MSNBC, with “The Ed Show” ranked #2 in both A25-54 and total viewers for the full year. Compared to 2009, “The Ed Show” is up +8% in A25-54 and +20% in total viewers, while CNN has dropped –28% in A25-54 and –29% in total viewers. CNN had their lowest 6 p.m. delivery in A25-54 since 1999 and the lowest total viewer average since 2002. “The Ed Show” had 642,000 total viewers (vs. 543,000 for CNN) and 157,000 A25-54 (vs. 149,00 for CNN).

* “Hardball with Chris Matthews” at 7 p.m. ranked #2 with A25-54 (172,000) and P2+ (634,000), beating CNN in the hour for the first time ever. CNN delivered lowest A25-54 and total viewers in the hour ever (137,000 A25-54 and 462,000 P2+).

* “Countdown with Keith Olbermann” ends 2010 with a huge lead over CNN, rating #2 for the 4th consecutive year with total viewers (1.038 million vs. 527,000) and A25-54 (269,000 vs. 149,000). With the end of “Campbell Brown” and the start of “Parker Spitzer,” CNN hit all-time lows in the hour with both adults and total viewers.

* In 2010, “The Rachel Maddow Show” ranked #2 at 9 p.m. beating CNN’s “Larry King Live” for the full year the first time ever among A25-54 (256,000 vs. 177,000) and total viewers (954,000 vs. 676,000). 2010 was the lowest rated year ever for “Larry King Live.”

* The combination of “The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell” and the “Countdown” encore at 10 p.m. ranked #2 in 2010, beating CNN’s live editions of “Anderson Cooper 360″ among A25-54 (217,000 vs. 207,000) and P2+ (674,000 vs. 667,000). Since the premiere, “The Last Word” has ranked #2 and topped “AC360” among total viewers and A25-54.

* MSNBC placed #2 in Total Day (M-Su 6 a.m.-6a.m.) for the year, beating CNN for the first time ever among A25-54 (141,000 vs. 133,000). MSNBC also topped CNN for the year in Sales Day (M-Su 6 a.m-2a.m.) in A25-54 for the first time ever (146,000 vs. 143, 000).

* In 2010, MSNBC is # 1 in delivering African American and Hispanic viewers for the first time ever (M-Su Primetime).

http://insidecablenews.wordpress.com/2010/12/20/2010-numbers-msnbc/

[uchighlander]

And with all that being said.....they are still at # 28 among all other cable networks. GO VIKINGS!!!

[CIAA-FAN]

And with all that being said.....they are still at # 28 among all other cable networks. GO VIKINGS!!!

...AND YOUR POINT IS WHAT?  MOST PEOPLE WATCH TV (CABLE OR OTHERWISE) FOR ENTERTAINMENT AND NOT POLITICAL COMMENTARY.

[Wildman78]

And with all that being said.....they are still at # 28 among all other cable networks. GO VIKINGS!!!

And that may not be a significant fact in the context of this discussion.  There are many, many cable networks. Nubmber 28 maybe a decent rank for a Cable News Network. Apparently during prime time, MSNBC is ranked number 2 among cable news networks. That seems significant to  me.

It would help if you identified the source for your assertion.  

[Cholly]

You folks let politically motivated ignorance drag you down the primrose path. 

Can't you all see a good non sequitur when it's staring you in the face?

[Meciber 202]

^^^^ yes, but his brain has been working so hard to find something that sticks (anything) ... would be funny if it wasn't so pathetic. ... it's a cry-out for Y to send help. 

[uchighlander]

^^^^ yes, but his brain has been working so hard to find something that sticks (anything) ... would be funny if it wasn't so pathetic. ... it's a cry-out for Y to send help. 

Talk about working hard....I'm not the one giving reasons why being the tallest midget in a room full of midgets is a great thing. GO VIKINGS!!!!

[soflorattler]

gma weekend reported this morning that as part of his termination he can not work on tv for an extended period of time.

You lie, post a link.

no lie.  i just watched the gma video.  ron claiborne referenced the new york times.  olbermann won't be on tv for an extended period.  olbermann also had 30 million remaining on his contract. 

 

Keith Olbermann To Current TV: Hosting New Show, Becoming Chief News Officer

Keith Olbermann announced on Tuesday that he will host a one-hour, nightly primetime show on Current TV starting in late spring. He will also become the "chief news officer" for Current. Olbermann had been without a television home since he abruptly left MSNBC, where he had hosted "Countdown" for eight years, in January.

For Olbermann, his move to Current gives him a chance to wield large influence over a a relatively tiny network. Current averages about 23,000 viewers in primetime every night--a far cry from the million or so viewers who watched "Countdown."

In a conference call with reporters on Tuesday morning, Olbermann said that "nothing is more vital to a free America than a free media, and nothing is more vital to my concept of a free media than news that is produced independently of corporate interference." He called Current "the model truth seeking entity" in television, and said that his new show was "the most exciting event in my career."

Olbermann said the show "will be for all intents and purposes an improved and we hope amplified and stronger version of the show that I just did at my previous network." He could not, however, provide details of the name and time of the show, saying only, "stay tuned."

Al Gore, the chairman of Current TV, also spoke on the conference call. He said he was "extremely honored and delighted" that Olbermann was coming to Current. He said Olbermann was a "great fit with Current in every way."

Olbermann will also be the executive producer of the new show. In the conference call, he called Current the only "independent news and information" channel in the United States. He said he was looking forward to working somewhere where "purely market forces are not the deciding factor in what we're doing here."

A reporter asked if Olbermann would be able to donate to political candidates in his new position-- a reference to the suspension Olbermann received at MSNBC for his donations to three Democrats.

"The answer is yes," Gore said. "We believe at Current that every citizen has freedom of speech, and that freedom of speech includes the ability to donate to candidates of your choice." He added that "full disclosure of that is
important."

As Chief News Officer, Current CEO Mark Rosenthal said, Olbermann will be intimately involved with all of the channel's news and informational programming.

Current has already launched a website for Olbermann's upcoming show. Here's a screenshot of what it looks like now:




http://current.com/keith-olbermann/

[CIAA-FAN]

LOOKS AS IF HE WILL HAVE AN OPPORTUNITY TO BUILD AN EMPIRE ON  HIS OWN TERMS STARTING WITH A VERY SMALL NETWORK.    I WOULDN'T BET AGAINST HIM.  

[Cholly]

Well, I know I will be watching his program.