Why I Find Big Ed's Demotion To Weekends Troubling

[KharmaTrain]

77. They Also Make Sure Olbermann Was On The Shelf...

...the bottom line was MSNBC controlled Olbermann's contract so that he had to sit out for 6 months. While I admire what Olbermann did to help put MSNBC on the map, his departure was of his own making...as it was at Current. As one who spent too many years working with the egos in the media, I've seen many a highly talented person who ends up being their own worst career counselor.

So far Comcast has owned MSNBC for close to a year, including a major election, and I haven't seen them muzzle anyone. They surely didn't when David Corn and Jimmy Carter III came to the network with the 47% tape...they ran with it big time. The charm of MSNBC from a sales perspective...and one Olbermann and others would rave about...is their reach to a more affluent audience. Smaller, yet better educated and a more desireable advertising group. Look at the commercials on MSNBC vs. faux...one has new cars and Iphones, the other has reserve mortgages, cash for Gold and boner pills. Guess whose making out better...

Regarding Leno...that's NBC Entertainment...a division totally removed from NBC News by 3,000 miles. Leno's ratings have sucked since he forced Conan out and my bets are there are a lot of regrets. Yep, they are forcing him out cause they think Fallon will bring a younger "more hip" audience to 11:30. They said the same thing about Conan and got cold feet when the ratings weren't what they were hoping for. Leno's problem isn't only that younger people aren't watching his show...almost everyone else isn't either.

Cheers...