No real clues what this is about, but Keith Olbermann announced, at the end of tonight’s show, that it would be the last edition of Countdown with Keith Olbermann, MSNBC’s top-rated program.
MSNBC, the nation’s #2 rated cable news channel in primetime (behind Fox “News” and ahead of CNN), quickly released this terse announcement after the show:
The announcement comes at the end of the same week that the FCC & Dept. of Justice approved Comcast’s takeover of NBC. Writing at Daily Beast, media critic Howard Kurtz reports, however, that “A knowledgeable official said the move had nothing to do with Comcast taking control of NBC next week, although the cable giant was informed when it received final federal approval for the purchase that Olbermann would be leaving the cable channel. This official described the dramatic divorce-Olbermann was about halfway through a four-year, $30 million contract-as mutual.”
New York Times’ Bill Carter similarly reports that “NBC executives said the move had nothing to do with the impending takeover of NBC Universal by Comcast.”
However, TMZ reports tonight, that Olbermann “was fired” according to “MSNBC sources” and that “it had everything to do with Comcast’s acquisition of NBC.” Their sources said that “Comcast honchos did not like Keith’s defiance and the way he played in the sandbox,” whatever that means.
[Update: Comcast issues statement denying they had anything to do with any of this. More details in full UPDATE now posted at bottom of story after the video.]
At the beginning of his announcement, posted below, Olbermann suggests that he had been “told that this is going to be the last edition of your show.” Few other clues are offered for the sudden departure in his closing statement.
Talking Points Memo’s Josh Marshall, who had been a guest at the top of tonight’s show, says that he was “stunned” and “didn’t sense anything different in Keith’s manner or affect” during tonight’s broadcast or inside the studio itself.
“There were a few more people than I’m used to seeing in the studio — maybe two or three, seated, who seemed to be there to watch. (Something I don’t remember seeing before),” he writes in an item tonight titled “What the hell was that about?” but says he saw “nothing that made me think twice that anything odd was going on.”
The Times‘ Carter says that Lawrence O’Donnell, host of MSNBC’s recently-added 10pm show The Last Word would take over the 8pm slot, Rachel Maddow would continue at 9pm, and progressive radio talker and host of MSNBC’s 3pm The Ed Show, Ed Schultz, would take over O’Donnell’s 10pm slot to fill out the new prime-time line-up.
Olbermann’s announcement and final sign-off follows below…
UPDATE: Mediate reports that office politics had more to do with the departure than anything, and Comcast issues a statement to say they had nothing to do with it. See below…
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Did Comcast–as many Countdown viewers seem to suspect–order Olbermann out? It appears that the end of the Olbermann era at MSNBC was not “ordered†by Comcast, nor was it a move to tone down the network’s politics. Instead, sources inside the network say it came down to the more mundane world of office politics–Olbermann was a difficult employee, who clashed with bosses, colleagues, and underlings alike, and with the Comcast-related departure of Jeff Zucker, and the rise of Maddow and O’Donnell, the landscape shifted, making an Olbermann exit suddenly seem well-timed.
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Update: Brian Stelter reports the following statement from Comcast:
“Comcast has not closed the transaction for NBCU and has no operational control at any of its properties including MSNBC. We pledged from the day the deal was announced that we would not interfere with NBCU’s news operations. We have not & we will not.â€
UPDATE 1/22, 11:56am PT A few more bits and pieces of info from the Los Angeles Times today, including a report that Olbermann’s severance agreement, reported to have been a matter of discussion for “several weeks”, may keep him off competing channels for “about a year”. If true, that would shut down, for now, the fair amount of speculation since the announcement last night that he might be heading to CNN to take over the 8p ET time-slot currently occupied by the troubled Parker/Spitzer show. [Hat-tip Ernie Canning in comments]…
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He did not indicate where he might be headed, although a person familiar with his exit agreement said it prevents him from turning up on a competing channel for about a year.
Yip, Hows that media deregulation working out for ya?
A shrinking range of political discourse accompanies every media consolidation.
“It’s The Media Stupid ” !! What a Coincidence; ComCast gets final approval to Buy the NBC Media Conglomerate & Olbermann gets Fired 1 day later as everyone had warned. You could not have got odds on that happening in Las Vegas cause it was almost a Foregone Conclusion. “More Media Consolidation”, Right from the Playbook of 1984. The Documentary, “Orwell Rolls in His Grave”, outlines what happen with Olbermann. Sounds like Keith was Fired while, “On-Air”, sometime earlier in the show live.
I don’t know yet how to respond to this ( MSNBC – Phil Donahue Syndrome ) But nasty ( civil ) emails to MSNBC & NBC will be first, maybe phone-calls too. Obama & Senator Sanders also need their Ears bent on this issue. I’m a Malloyist at heart; Always love it when Brad covers for Malloy when Mike & Kathy are “MIA”, from the Radio Show. Thank God Bill Maher is back on HBO tonight to keep My Sanity ( Rachel Maddow is one of the Panelists Tonight but said she knows little about what happened ). J.E. Blue-Oregon
Since, despite his “independent” cred, Olbermann had already drifted into supporting some of the worst of the Obaministration excesses I find this all to be rather non-news.
It does give people, and blogs, an excuse to rail and flail about… not much at all… while the substantive problems behind these events all continue to go unaddressed.
Now, of course, more legislators will be siphoning away more of peoples’ time, energy and money with proposed legislative solutions that all somehow never manage to either get passed or, if passed, actually impact our lords and masters.
And I suppose Maddow’s cancellation will be greeted with copious tears as well…
MSNBC should keep Keith Olbermann and get rid of Rachel Maddow. It could be possible though that Olbermann was the one who quit MSNBC. The story will come out over the next few days. He was the only one worth watching. Just like in the morning, Joe Scarborough is tolerable but his sidekick Mika Brzezinski needs to be fired. She is so arrogant and just constantly interrupts everyone and never knows when to shut up. Most of what she says sounds like nonsense anyway.
One thing seems certain, since Olbermann had the most popular MSNBC ratings, Comcast & MSNBC think like the government (we don’t care what the people think).
Comcast is behind this….Keith is an American hero.
As the commercials on TV say another voice is silenced and all we’re left with is the trash over at fix news…I liked the Ed Show and Countdown and sometimes Rachel….They are the only reasons I ever watched MSNBC…
Why the stupid in this country don’t wake up to what the corporations are slowly doing to us I’d really like to know…I keep thinking people can’t really be that dumb but they are.
It’s sad how this country is going down the drain with the help of corporations/lobbyists/polticians and then stupid voters who seem to believe what ever they are told…
God help us all!
Any corporation that says they had nothing to do with it because the “merger” had yet to be completed is lying to the public, an insult by media that should accelerate their own final dissolution.
Any one with half a brain knows that in such a transaction there are numerous conditions and terms that are rarely, if ever, published. Their not answering our concerns in that manner reveals just how divorced from their income stream that they have become.
I finally have a perfect reason to cancel Comcast! Sorry, Rachel and Ed.
It’s so weird that though this is a big, big deal to a lot of people the parties involved all seem so at ease giving absolutely no information about what actually went down. Not a hint of acknowledgment that anybody might even be curious. Oh boy, more treatment like we the citizenry just don’t exist. Except to be manipulated. My favorite. Can we move to Vermont and secede, please?
According to the Los Angeles Times, Olbermann and the network began negotiating a severance several weeks ago.
I’m with you David! Washington state is about to cut the education budget massively anyway, so my wife and I may be looking for work soon, if we get laid off we’ll lose our house for sure. (So much for respecting teachers and education – well, we’re just a bunch of lazy louts who get our summers and weekends off at taxpayer expense anyway.)
Visited Vermont in 2004, loved Burlington.
I like watching Keith’s show it is very informative and is very straight forward unlike Fox News which many of you foolishly watch even though you know you are being lied to makes me think of the war in Iraq a war started basically on lies and was proven so yet we continue to fight there JUST DOESN’T MAKE ANY SENSE.
I respect Keith’s journalism so much that I got hooked onto his show i was flipping through the channels a year and a half ago seeing what all the major news networks are talking about off course Fox news just made me switch the channel right away then same thing happened with CNN but not as swift as fox I then turned to MSNBC watched the whole episode of “Countdown With Keith Olbermann” and was immediately hooked not only can I see the true sense of journalism from this guy I can also see what he was bringing to the show was the Truth something foxnews is the opposite of.
I am very disappointed with Keith’s decision cause hes one of the last few real journalists around that will tell it like it is much less so with Jon Stewart who although chooses the satirical route with his show yet he tell you the news without covering up the truth like foxnews yes foxnews. One thing that comes to mind that may be the reason for his sudden unfortunate departure might be the Gabrielle Gifford’s shooting and the not surprising post response from our very patriotic politicians. I couldn’t be more disgusted when Sarah Palin and the likes thereof acted like they had no accountability for what happened even though she proudly used terms like RELOAD! I can see why Keith might not want to be any part of such a corrupt and atrocious system of government where blame is passed onto each other instead of claiming accountability like Keith did and surprisingly John McCain. Although they are not directly responsible for the Arizona shooting they stood up and said something out of their hearts instead of their behinds like Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, & Rush Limbaugh have been doing.
I wish Keith all the best kind of like how i did the same with Dan Rather who was also a journalist I had huge respects for its a shame how we just keep sinking deeper and deeper into the abyss where the truth is very hard to come by its all up to Jon Stewart Now.
I wish Kieth and his fellow Left leaning journalists would start their own network. It could even be on the internet. We need stories like those from Project Censored and Brad, here, to be covered. Of course the fascist FCC with their alliance with our government prevent the more shocking realities from being made public.
I am reminded of a quote from William Blum, “No matter what conspiracy theories are out there, what our government is actually doing is much worse.”
We know Kieth and other Left leaning journalists are not ignorant of these things. Only fools buy the common BS pumped by our government/media, like the day of 9-11-01, for example, since real science makes the government version tragically laughable. If they had their own network, those things would not go ignored.
Brad is so correct (notice I didn’t say Right?) in his statement, “We have a truth emergency”. Correct me, Brad, if I misquoted that, but I believe that was the point of your statement anyway.
Part 1 of Orwell Roll in his Grave, with the following parts on same page, all need to see this, how serious the media problem is, crisis is the right word….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SV_mvc4zKw
Also, a new documentary on same topic, chilling also, called Psywar needs sharing. Part 1 is here, and like my prior post, on the page finding this, parts 2, etc are on that same page. Very enlightening.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7A2hVDdB10
Keith Olbermann last my respect (humble as that may be) when Dennis Kucinich was shut out of Democratic primary debates. Was that mouthy milquetoast The Great Liberal Hope? Any number of bloggers (including Brad Friedman) demonstrate greater independent news and analysis than Keith Olbermann ever did. Going on to something more relevant, I think freedom we enjoy on the Internet will be chipped away, bit by bit, and become a distant memory (quaint historical relic), since it is already happening. Enjoy it while it lasts.
Blubonnet @ 15 said:
I don’t believe I’ve ever used those words. Not that I don’t agree with them, however.
Brad, it was at the event, in which you said, you met Ernie for the first time in person. Well, we agree on its meaning.
Could it just simply have been part of the deal that Olbermann be let go? That way it is looked at as MSNBC canning him, not Comcast. As the transaction with Comcast isn’t “closed” they could very well have said, we’ll make the deal on these terms as long as some of those terms are concluded before the closing.
“Friday’s separation agreement between MSNBC and Mr. Olbermann includes restrictions on when he can next lead a television show and when he can give interviews about the decision to end his association with the news channel.
The executives involved in the discussions confirmed that the deal carries limitations for Mr. Olbermann in terms of when he can next work on television, though he will be able to take a job in radio or on any forum on the Internet. The deal also prohibits the host from commenting publicly on the deal, the executives confirmed.
Mr. Olbermann did not respond to requests for comment Friday or Saturday. None of the executives who discussed the deal would reveal the exact length of the restrictions.
The decision was completed one year to the day from the last time NBC decided to end a relationship with an on-air star: Conan O’Brien. Mr. O’Brien agreed in the deal not to start up a new television show for nine months, and not to grant interviews for five months. The executives involved in the discussions with Mr. Olbermann said his agreement was not dissimilar to Mr. O’Brien’s.”
http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/22/olbermanns-msnbc-exit-was-weeks-in-the-making/?hp
How about an interview show on PBS.
I feel sorry for Keith Olberman and the American public. Like him or not, agree or not, a perspective on the news was silenced. The commentator be he or she is liberal, conservative, moderat should be given the opportunity to express his or her views. Its the US people who lose out. Of course there are newspapers, political blogs etc. However imho when ever any commentator is forced out we all lose. There is one less source of news commentary. Hopefully KO can get his thoughts on the internet, a political blog, sirious sp, I am hoping KO was KO’d temporarily.
One last thought he was as Mr Potato says “Just a common tater lol.
Umm, Comcast, no wonder. Comcast is, arguably, the slimyest of the vultures that were allowed to pick the bones of AT&T after Reagan slayed it back in the early ’80s. They took a large share of the ATT assets then nearly bankrupted themselves. Thus stealing a large portion of the AT&T employees pensions. They should all be in prison as they are some of the smartest guys in the room too.
Comcast is one of the vultures created when Reagan killed AT&T to strip the flesh from it’s carcass. It then screwed most of the employee investors out of their retirement savings by stealing the assets and selling them to their friends. Comcast is and has never been anything but a criminal organization transferring the nations wealth from the people who made to the criminal Ruling Class. Olberman probably just couldn’t stand Comcasts stench.
The PBS suggestion made me realize how impressive Keith could be as the new Bill Moyers. They have the same gravitas, integrity and intelligence. PBS may think they have replaced Moyers, but they haven’t…I think he’s be terrific in that format.
in his sign off it sounds like he would like us the people to complain about his departure when he mentnons the movie and the line(not saying it)I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore. time to open our windows!!