Say It's Not So: Countdown begins for end of Keith Olbermann's 'Countdown'?

[Emit]

Countdown begins for end of Keith Olbermann's 'Countdown'?
February 3, 2010 | 2:22 am
Remember Keith Olbermann?

He was the one-time must-see anti-Bush ranter who helped rescue MSNBC (yes, it's still on at night) from even worse oblivion years ago.

Well, quietly last month while no one was looking, hardly anyone was watching Keith Olbermann anymore.

~snip~

... Olbermann's showboat is sinking. Listing in you-know-which direction.

It's as if he thinks talking LOUDER will keep his low cell battery from dying.

Worst, Olbermann's network president, Phil Griffin, is publicly praising him, ... "Keith has been our tentpole," Griffin says, adding later, "I'm pleased with where we are."

Where they are, as Jeff Bercovici points out over at Daily Finance, is way behind the big boys over at Fox News, Bill O'Reilly and gang. In fact, Keith is so far behind Bill, he can't even make out the state of the license plate, let alone the numbers. Bercovici thinks Americans may be outgrowing Olbermann's schtick.

In the most desirable TV demographic of 25-54, which Keith will soon outgrow himself, "Countdown" lost 44% of its audience from the beginning of President Obama's term until this year. It could have been worse -- say, 45%.

... According to one count, Keith even finished in that time slow behind Nancy Grace. Nancy Grace!

~snip~

On the bright side, which everyone knows KO is fond of spotting, his MSNBC audience was only 696,000 viewers 24-54 behind O'Reilly, whose audience has grown 55% ...

In the immortal words of Edward J. Smith, captain of the Titanic, "What iceberg?"

-- Andrew Malcolm

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2010/02/keith-olbermann-msnbc-glenn-beck-bill-oreilly-fox-news.html

[Sebastian Doyle]

1. The reason that Keith lost half his audience

..is that Comcast cut off MSNBC from the tier of digital cable that most people have. And this was before they bought NBC. Now they'll probably dismantle the network entirely, or turn it into a clone of FAUX. Of course then they would put it back on basic cable.

It's not that people don't want to watch. They just can't afford to spend $150/month to do so.

[daa]

5. They are not going to dismantle it

they added it to the high definition line up months ago, just like CNN and faux nuze.

[EFerrari]

15. On Dishnet, I'd have to pay extra to get that channel now. And I don't.

[EFerrari]

14. Bingo. n/t

[Jennicut]

18. Yup. Comcast sucks and they are trying to make us go digital.

Jerks.

[LLStarks]

22. Cablevision did this too. Fuck the Dolans. nt

[lyonn]

27. No kidding

It appears that about half the population is repub and the other half dem, therefore, MSNBC must compete with CNN. If CNN is still available for all the basic cable channels, this all makes sense.

Keith, Rachelle and Dylan all add their special left leaning perspective that makes a good mix. Chris? Well, he has his moments.

Edit: oops, forgot Ed! They are my political fix of the day.

[grantcart]

2. Part of the problem is that you can watch Rachel and get all of the same content

(and sometimes more) without the histrionics and you can watch Ed and get all of the histrionics (and sometimes more) without the content.

[daa]

3. I hate to say it but I am one who got tired of his shtick

Every night it was the same insiders, talking about the same stuff. To be fair I watched Letterman during the election also. Today it is more important to talk, not yell about real issues with investigative reporting like Rachael Maddow. She books guests no one on our side gets on and interviews them and has a conversation, which is why they probably come on. Dylan Ratigan is another one who is great a t reporting. He needs to polish his delivery but he does great.

So I am not surprised. And after Kos survey of how stupid republicans are I can see why O'liar is still going strong.

Sorry Ed, I almost forgot you buddy.

[WI_DEM]

4. Wow! nice right wing talking points.

[Snotcicles]

6. Geez, I wonder if the cable companies like mine that offer two FOX and no MSNBC

would be part of the reason.

[Purveyor]

7. Anyone know the number of homes that MSNBC is piped into vs. FNC?

I've heard in the past that on many cable/dish systems that MSNBC is only available by subscribing to a more costly 'expanded' service while FNC is included in the 'basic' package.

[Tippy]

20. Charter user here....we had basic for several months

All the news we had was local...now we pay for MSNBC>>>CNN>>>xof...never turn xof on in my house...however I watch Keith, Rachel, Chris at least once a night and sometimes twice...When we had basic...I would go to my daughters house as often as I could to watch Keith. But Charter has become the info-mercial king...there ought to be a law against info-mercials.

[truebrit71]

8. I believe KO addressed this bullshit yesterday..

..check his website for verification..

[HipChick]

38. yep..he did

[DCBob]

9. I quit watching KO after the election... I guess I am one of those apathetic Democrats...

who is tired of politics and feels like our work is done now that we ousted the Republicans out of the WH. Sorry Keith.

[spanone]

10. interesting. i get m$nbc, but don't get it in HD.....comcast

[Zomby Woof]

39. MSNBC isn't in HD yet

For some unknown reason. It's not just Comcast.

[louis-t]

11. Sounds like republican rhetoric to me.

Notice the photo of billo is HUGE and the one of Keith is microscopic? Nowhere in that article does it say MSNBC is thinking of, planning, concerned with, suggesting cancelling KO. STFU Malcolm.

[JaneQPublic]

12. KO needs to revamp his routine

Maybe even dump the "Countdown" schtick altogether. It hamstrings the show to a boilerplate format that has grown dull with time.

And I agree with earlier comments that he does seem to have the same old analysts on night after night.

For these reasons, if I can watch only one show, I'll go for Rachel over KO. She always has different people on her show, often the newsmakers rather than news analysts, and she relies on only a modicum of boilerplate set pieces. I hate to pit KO against Rachel, but it would be to KO's advantage to do a similar self-assessement

[Paper Roses]

13. If this is true, I can believe Comcast would have something

major to do with it.

They took KO from the extended line-up in (I think) August 2008. In order to receive KO,I would have to go from About $100.00 month to a far higher figure. Can't afford it. Dropped to Basic Cable. I have analog TV's.

MSNBC, in my area is now part of an expanded digital offering that is way out of my budget. I can't go buy new TV's and then pay about $135 a month or more for the privilege of watching.

I lose, granted because I now have only basic Cable and I never turn the TV on. If I drop Cable altogether, my Internet rate goes up to more than the cost of both now.

Comcast loses but they don't care. Think of all the junk shows and commercials I miss because I can't afford their ridiculous rates. I do get a $2.00 a month Senior discount!


A la Carte TV for all.

[Garbo 2004]

44. Don't need digital TV to receive digital cable, just digital cable box. Cost of svs another matter.

[Winterblues]

16. He has sponsors though can Beck say that?

I still watch Keith but I like Rachel a little better. She is biased but fair. Keith is just biased and he does tend to get carried away with himself. He is an American Hero in my book though.

[Jennicut]

17. Andrew Malcom? That guy is a total turd and hates Dems and liberals. Why post that

crap here.

[spiritual_gunfighter]

21. I am not sure why it was posted

the same article was posted a couple of days ago and outed for the right wing trash it was.

[Berry Cool]

30. It wasn't the same article.

But this IS another vulture piling on to publish right-wing trash.

[Emit]

36. It lends itself to fruitful discussion, no? For example, I learned a lot from posting this.

I learned that Comcast apparently dropped/pulled/upped the charge for MSNBC and that Fox has more prevalence in cable packages. I learned that the original stats quoted may or may not be accurate and may or may not have been from a right leaning website, as the author of that site claims not to be right-leaning. I learned that Olbermann addressed this on his show, which I have no access to - don't get cable, so I am glad to hear he did that. And, I learned that, for as much as folks have an opinion and lots of good information to share here on the subject, not one bothered to venture over to this Andrew Malcom's site to post a comment.

Are you suggesting we should only post stuff we agree with or that is complimentary of 'our' side? There are many reasons to post on various topics. I think it was a valid concern to post and ask about, but that's just mho. :shrug: Thanks for your insight, btw, on this Malcom character. That's one of the reasons I love DU - it's always good to learn who the Dem hating turds are, lol. :hi:

[bdamomma]

19. this is not good that is why I will keep on viewing Keith

we need progressive voices, now more than ever.

[LLStarks]

23. Rachel Maddow should be moved to Keith's timeslot. nt

[blue neen]

24. Fox News and Republicans would like us to believe your post.

Fox News must be feeling pretty threatened. They've made sure that Comcast (in some areas) and Fios are either excluding MSNBC or making customers pay extra for it.

[bik0]

25. Hey Keith Olbermann, Have You Ever Really Read DailyFinance?

Hey Keith Olbermann, Have You Ever Really Read DailyFinance?

By JEFF BERCOVICI
Posted 10:40 AM 02/03/10 People, Media
Comments: 5Print E-mail More
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When I wrote about signs that the tide is turning against MSNBC's Keith Olbermann, I suspected it might land me a place on his "Worst Person in the World" list, the segment he uses for most of his score-settling. What I didn't anticipate was that he'd tell an outright lie about me and the organization I work for.

On Tuesday night's Countdown, Olbermann, claiming he wanted to "clear up" misperceptions about his show's ratings, called DailyFinance a "right-wing site" and lumped us in with Glenn Beck and the National Review.

Keith, I don't know what went into your decision to lie about us on your program. I don't know whether you've ever actually read anything on DailyFinance, or whether one of your producers just prepped a script for you and you performed it. But stuff like this is why people like Jon Stewart and me increasingly have questions about your intellectual honesty and integrity. Knock it off already.

http://goo.gl/enW4

[Berry Cool]

31. So, you're taking time out to post more of Bercovici's lies here?

Welcome to DU.

[hatrack]

43. He also wants to tell you about this REALLY COOL PERPETUAL MOTION MACHINE!!!!!!!!!!!!1

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=115x228610

[B Calm]

26. If only MSNBC could get on as many cable networks as fox. . .

[Cleita]

28. LOL! KO has already debunked that himself on his show last night.

He showed stats where he has beat out cable news in his time period. This bit of disinformation that started our in a right wing financial mag, is being picked up by bloggers who don't do some fact checking first.

[Berry Cool]

29. Andrew Malcolm: well-known conservative asshat.

I'm sure KO will have a fine time discombobulating this little column tonight.

[MinM]

41. Andrew Malcolm Vs. Keith Olbermann

Apparently there's a history here too:

http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlla/journos/andrew_malcolm_vs_keith_olbermann_125066.asp

So the LA Times mixed up the listings for Jackass and Countdown with Keith Olbermann. That couldn't possibly be a commentary, right? Freudian typo? Subliminal goof?

Anyway, Andrew Malcolm of LA Times' Top of the Ticket wrote, "without this kind of correction, online too, a few thousand people might have tuned into MSNBC,"

So Olbermann responded in the video above. Right after it aired we tried to get a comment from Malcolm via Twitter regarding how it feels to be one of the worse people in the world according to Countdown. We heard nothing back. Then in an update Malcolm posted:

It was only the bronze worse person of the day, but nearly half of Keith Olbermann's Friday night audience rushed to notify us on Twitter that in honor of this tiny little Ticket item the recovering sports announcer had declared us one of the day's three worst people in the world.

He then went on to attempt the quip that both of those Friday viewers were amused. Half? Both? Quick math - that's US. Hello, Andrew Malcolm - we just wanted a comment for our little media gossip blog. Throw us a bone, dude.

[Duer 157099]

32. Compliment indeed: "Keith has been our tentpole"

Now I've never heard anyone called a "tentpole" but it must be awfully flattering, especially for a man!

:rofl:

[PSzymeczek]

40. Well...

Keith is tall!

[LostInAnomie]

33. Is it just me, or was that entire article very poorly written?

The entire text looks and reads like the long, rambling, drunk emails my ex-girlfriend used to send me.

[moondust]

34. Wishful thinking.

:boring:

[cjbgreen]

35. Ohh Malcolm

Ohh Malcolm,
Me thinks thy damn with faint praise!
Why doest thou fear Mr. Olbermann,
Me thinks thou are a fraud!
Pull back thy curtain,
Why it is the great and powerul OZ!

I suspect there are many who would love to eliminate someone who speaks truth to power so passionately!
In my books Keith is a hero and paved the way for Rachel and others. Remember when Chris Matthews went on and on about Bush and his codpiece.

[RamboLiberal]

37. Here's another reason - what happened last month

The Haiti earthquaked which dominated news coverage for over a week. Non-Faux viewers tend to turn to CNN for big news stories like this.

Now last January politics was dominant as we had the winding down of the Bush Admin and the start of the Obama admin including the inauguration which would benefit MSNBC & KO.

But yeah, one thing I think KO needs to do is some tuning and get some new guests. I too as a viewer am getting tired of the same analysts on his show every night. I find Rachel's show fresher on guests & stories.

[Colonel Bat Guano]

42. Yet another factor...

iTunes.

I never watch Keith or Rachel on MSNBC via cable. However, I watch their shows almost every morning via free iTunes downloads. I wonder how many other people do this...