Consider this a working thread.
My father, Richard, who is a devoted fan and TheMomCat have both informed me that Keith is fired.
Comcast coincidence?
I don’t have any more information. Developments below.
From Josh Marshall @ TPM, Keith’s first guest has left and arrived home to hear the news! He had no inkling of what was about to happen.
I was just on in the opening segment of Olbermann tonight. And I get home and get this press release from NBC saying this was the last episode of Countdown. At first I figured it had to be a spoof email because, jeez, I was on and I didn’t have any sense that any other than a regular Friday evening show was on. But sure enough I pulled up the recording and now I’m watching his final sign off.
MSNBC released the following statement on their new programming order:
Starting Monday, January 24, “The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell” will move to 8 p.m. ET/PT and “The Ed Show,” hosted by Ed Schultz, will move to 10 p.m. ET/PT on MSNBC. The announcement was made today by Phil Griffin, President of MSNBC. “The Rachel Maddow Show” will continue to air live at 9 p.m. ET/PT.
Also starting Monday, Cenk Uygur, MSNBC contributor and host of the popular web show “The Young Turks,” will be filling in as host of the 6 p.m ET hour.
9:24 p.m. | Updated Keith Olbermann, the highest-rated host on MSNBC, announced abruptly on the air Friday night that he is leaving “Countdown with Keith Olbermann” immediately.
The host, who has had a stormy relationship with the management of the network for some time, especially since he was suspended for two days last November, came to an agreement with NBC’s corporate management late this week to settle his contract and step down.
In a closing statement on his show, Mr. Olbermann said simply that it would be the last edition of the program. He offered no explanation other than on occasion, the show had become too much for him.
Mr. Olbermann thanked his viewers for their enthusiastic support of a show that had “gradually established its position as anti-establishment.”
John Arivosis at AMERICAblog has a petition
From the Guardian.uk
Keith Olbermann abruptly fired by NBC
Keith Olbermann, the controversial MSNBC cable news host, has his contract abruptly terminated by parent company NBC
Keith Olbermann, the liberal, outspoken anchor of MSNBC’s Countdown show, had his contract dramatically terminated by the US cable new network’s parent company NBC on Friday night.
Abruptly announcing that the current show would be his last, Olbermann calmly read aloud a poem by James Thurber before signing off with the words: “Good night and good luck.”
While Olbermann was live on-air, NBC issued a statement reading:
Statement regarding Keith Olbermann
MSNBC and Keith Olbermann have ended their contract. The last broadcast of Countdown with Keith Olbermann will be this evening. MSNBC thanks Keith for his integral role in MSNBC’s success and we wish him well in his future endeavors.
The Associated Press reported that Phil Griffin, MSNBC’s president, would not comment on Olbermann’s exit. But a spokesman did say that the acquistion of NBC Universal by Comcast, which received regulatory approval this week, had nothing to do with the decision.
Bizarrely, nearly half an hour later during an ad break in the following programme, MSNBC showed a station promo featuring Olbermann. But the promo was interrupted halfway through by a mattress advertisment.
The mega-merger of Comcast-NBC will lead to less local news coverage, fewer points of view, & reduced competition for viewers & ads.
Twitter is going wild. Rachel Maddow is on Bill Maher tonight
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the big headline. I’m canceling Comcast Monday when there open. What a shock I couldn’t believe or take in what was going on.
‘I’M MAD AS HELL AND I’M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE’
He said go ahead and open your windows and say it so this is my window. I sure hope he ends up somewhere. Fuck Comcast MSNBC and the damn government with their FCC. first time I ever typed with cap lock on it really isn’t as good as yelling.
http://mediadecoder.blogs.nyti…
See how they git rid o’dem progressive voices, here, there and everywhere! All of ’em, like Russ Feingold, Alan Grayson, etc.
My hope is that Olbermann will join some of the progressive websites, or even start his own, an f..k ’em all!
You, Sir, were our Ed Murrow, our Kronkite. Russert had every reason to be proud of you, we were too….damnit.
He also had to look in the rear view mirror.
There’s a point when you’re just fed up with the bullshit.
I believe the whole thing became surreal for him.
There are not logical explanations for everything, and words hardly ever capture the essence. It’s a cultural straightjacket, and there’s very little room for authenticity. We all live our lives between commercials instead of each other.
is speculating Keith is going back to sports
http://www.dailykos.com/storyo…
and even Keith was getting on my nerves.
I turn to RTV (Russian tV) for news – 103 on my dial here in Chicago office. And while I understand there is some bias there (well not U.S. bias) I have learned more on that channel in the last six months than on any channel including MSNBC in the past year. And they have their own Keith type – Max Keiser.
But good luck to Keith – he did good work with the medical clinic – He’ll be fine; he’ll be rich.
It’s you guys I worry about – and myself of course.
When and if Comcast pushes this Infinity stuff – I’ll cancel out. As a person who is home a lot – cable is a blessing – but every blessing has a downside. If costs continue rising, who do they think will be able to afford it.
At any rate – I do like Comcast for my internet useage – so I’ll be spending a lot of time at the corner coffee shop which is wired.