Posts Tagged ‘Keith Olbermann’

Late on Friday night, former MSNBC host and soon-to-be Current TV host Keith Olbermann launched his new website, FOK News Channel.

As we reported last week, the site is accessible at FOKNewsChannel.com

The site features three sections: “The First Guess,” which features Olbermann’s thoughts on the news of the day. “Snappy Answers to Stupid Headlines,” which has Olbermann snarking to headlines from various news outlets and “Worst Persons of the Day.” which is the online version of his popular TV show segment.

News of the site’s launch has already left the blogosphere and made the mainstream media, with ABC News and The Washington Post.

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Former MSNBC 8 PM host Keith Olbermann has already announced his plans to join Current TV, but it seems he also has some digital ideas in the works.

Olbermann tweeted through his @FOKNewsChannel account:

“Proud to announce: Coming very very soon – your FOKNewsChannel website…”

So where will it be? The early signs point to FOKNewsChannel.com, which was registered the same day as Olbermann created the @FOKNewsChannel Twitter account.

The site was registered anonymously, using the same registrar that purchased TheKeithOlbrmannShow.com a few days before Olbermann announced his departure from MSNBC.

Still, Olbermann’s tweet raises questions:

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The top three cable-news-show Web sites for the week ending Jan. 22 were unchanged from the previous week, according to data from Experian Hitwise, but the abrupt cancellation of the No. 1 show on the list will likely alter the landscape in the weeks to come. The now-erstwhile Countdown with Keith Olbermann from MSNBC topped the list, followed by Fox News Channel’s The O’Reilly Factor, and MSNBC Live.

The list of late-night talk shows was unchanged from the week ending Jan. 15: Comedy Central’s The Daily Show with John Stewart and The Colbert Report, and TBS’ Conan. Morning talk shows remained the same, as well: NBC’s Today, ABC’s Good Morning America, and CBS’ The Early Show.

Continuing the theme of the week, the top three broadcast-network Web sites were the same as the prior week: CBS, ABC, and NBC. Fox’s American Idol sang its way to the top of the list of broadcast-network-show sites, with CBS’ NCIS claiming second place, and the No. 3 spot going to ABC’s The Bachelor. There were no fast risers on the broadcast list.

MTV’s Jersey Shore was no grenade, holding on to the top spot on the cable-show list, while the second- and third-place shows flip-flopped their positions from the previous week, with Comedy’s South Park overtaking BET’s The Game. Fast risers were Syfy’s Being Human (to No. 10 from No. 26), MTV’s Skins (15 from 79), USA Network’s Fairly Legal (20 from 52), and History’s Pawn Stars (24 from 26).

When combining broadcast and cable networks, the top two shows were the same as the week ending Jan. 15: Nickelodeon’s SpongeBob SquarePants and Jersey Shore. South Park slipped into third place. Fast risers were American Idol (5 from 31), Countdown (18 from 35), Bravo’s The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills (19 from 33), and Being Human (21 from 68).

Broadcast and Cable Report 012211

Fans of Keith Olbermann lamenting the fact that his last installment of Countdown with Keith Olbermann aired on MSNBC just days before President Barack Obama‘s State of the Union address can still hear what the controversial talk-show host has to say about the speech, via Twitter.

Olbermann announced via Tweet that he would live-Tweet the State of the Union, following that up by announcing the creation of another Twitter feed, FOKNewsChannel, with a Tweet that read, “Greetings! FOKNewsChannel is on the air. Well, on Twitter. Well, it’ll be on as soon as we pay the electric bill #FOK”

When outgoing NBCU chief Jeff Zucker was asked about the controversial moves his, and other networks have made the last few years of putting TV programming on the Web, therefore potentially hurting the syndication market, Zucker joked, “Can we go back to the Keith Olbermann question?”

Speaking before a roomful of program buyers, sellers and producers at the annual NATPE gathering in Miami Beach, Zucker stood up for NBCU’s partnership in video platform Hulu. “I’m incredibly proud of what Hulu has done,” said Zucker. (With Comcast gaining majority control of NBCU this Friday, the company’s management stake in Hulu will go away.)

As for the Olbermann joke, Zucker was referencing the first question he’d gotten during the Q&A about the MSNBC host’s abrupt departure from the network Friday night — a question he could not comment on.

“Online is still a better experience for us than the DVR. We can control the ad inventory and the ad load,” said Zucker. “The consumer has made it clear that they want to enjoy it this way. If we don’t listen to the consumer, piracy will take over as we saw happen in the music industry.”

Zucker also reiterated his support of the TV Everywhere concept, a favorite of Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes. And he predicted mobile will be the go-to place for growth in program viewing the near term.

• Related: SportsNewser – How Important is the NFL to NBC? “I shudder to think about NBC without it.”

Keith Olbermann‘s self-imposed suspension from Tweeting lasted about as long as his MSNBC-imposed suspension from hosting Countdown with Keith Olbermann, as the talk-show host returned to Twitter with this Tweet Sunday:

And we’re back. Tweeting will resume tomorrow. Good night and… etc. (Avatar dates to 1971 at Yankee Stadium).

At the time of this post, Olbermann had Tweeted twice more, including this promise to go into more details about the controversy that drove him to temporarily quit the microblogging service in the first place:

FYI there will be a tweet (and some retweets) later today about the #mooreandme spectacle

Olbermann reacted to extensive criticism via the microblogging service over hosting filmmaker Michael Moore on Countdown, during which Moore said the controversy over WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was overblown, and for retweeting a link from Bianca Jagger that dismissed the charges against Assange and possibly revealed the identities of the women who accused him of sexual misconduct.

Keith Olbermann is suspended again, but this time it’s from Twitter, not MSNBC, and this one was self-imposed.

According to The Huffington Post, Olbermann reacted to extensive criticism via the microblogging service over hosting filmmaker Michael Moore on MSNBC’s Countdown with Keith Olbermann, during which Moore said the controversy over WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was overblown, and for retweeting a link from Bianca Jagger that dismissed the charges against Assange and possibly revealed the identities of the women who accused him of sexual misconduct.

Olbermann’s “final” Tweets, for now:

Approximately 3 p.m. ET:: I’ve discovered that I am accused of being a rape apologist in part because I didn’t remove the quotes from the word rape in a retweet

Minutes later: I’ll thus unblock all blocks, wish you all a Merry Christmas and I’ll suspend this account until/if this frenzy is stopped.

Keith Olbermann was suspended Friday afternoon by MSNBC brass for not telling them that he’d contributed to three democratic congressional candidates in the days leading up to the election — a violation of NBC News policy. The Twittersphere lit up after the news (Keith Olbermann is a trending topic in the U.S.).

Andrew Breitbart, conservative commentator:

Olbermann SUSPENDED from MSNBC Indefinitely Without Pay – for Dem Political Donations. (I’m beginning to think this guy is biased.)

Kirsten Powers, Fox News/Democratic analyst

Who cares if Keith Olbermann gave $ to dems? He’s an unabashed liberal; what’s the big shocker?

Felix Gillette, New York Observer

getting crowded in the MSNBC penalty box

Jeff Bercovici, Forbes

Prediction: @keitholbermann won’t go back to work at MSNBC after suspension. Quitting in a dust-up is his M.O.

FoxBusiness

Oh my RT @annieg917 (AP) –MSNBC has suspended prime-time host Keith Olbermann indefinitely without pay for making political contributions.

cnnbrk

#MSNBC suspends primetime host Keith #Olbermann indefinitely for donating money to Democrats.

Olbermann, who has about 137,000 followers, hasn’t tweeted since about NoonET, when he wrote of another suspension: his WPITW segment:

@thejosha no. Suspended it Monday, during show, in the spirit of what was right about Stewart’s remarks.

How’s this for a web feud? Former MSNBC contributor Tucker Carlson had his website, The Daily Caller, acquire www.keitholbermann.com, which is of course the name of MSNBC host Keith Olbermann.

According to the official announcement:

“We plan to make The Daily Caller the one-stop online shop for Keith Olbermann commentary,” said Editor-in-Chief Tucker Carlson. “We will be THE Keith Olbermann superstore.”

“This is part of our long-term growth strategy,” added Publisher and CEO Neil Patel. “Our future acquisition targets include several other annoying cable news commentators.”

Olbermann responded via, of course, Twitter:

Regarding @TheDailyCaller and Keitholbermann.com: I hope whoever sold it to them got CASH.

And

Also regarding @TheDailyCaller and KeithOlbermann.com – the law’s pretty clear on this, so, nice waste of money, Tuckie.

According to Hitwise, the Websites of four news programs cracked the top 10 of most visited cable shows last week. When children’s programs are excluded, Lou Dobbs‘ CNN.com page was 7th, Keith Olbermann‘s msnbc.com page was 8th, Bill O’Reilly‘s FoxNews.com page was 9th, and CNN.com’s Larry King page was 10th.

As for broadcast programs, Fox.com’s American Idol page was #1 again followed by NBC.com’s Biggest Loser site.

Click here for the rankings…