FBN in Sequel to “Wall Street”…?

The script to Oliver Stone’s Wall Street sequel has allegedly leaked. In it FBN talent are all over it. Cody Willard, Alexis Glick, Jenna Lee, Eric Bolling, and Brian Sullivan are listed as making appearances on screen. I wonder who is going to draw comparisons to CNN and “Contact”? (via Zero Hedge)

Tweet of the Day…

FBN’s Liz Claman

I am wearing 4.5 inch orange Jimmy Choo stiletto’s that 12 people have already commented on. Can only wear them on air, canNOT walk in them.

The Hazards of Live TV: #25,015

Free for All: 08/13/09

What’s on your mind?

Double Standard?

Mediaite’s Colby Hall and Robert Quigley write about the case of MSNBC analyst Richard Wolffe…

Wolffe consults for a firm called Public Strategies, Inc.: in his Salon column, Glenn Greenwald made the point that “Wolffe’s role in life is to advance the P.R. interests of the corporations that pay him, including corporations with substantial interests in virtually every political issue that MSNBC and Countdown cover.” Responding on Daily Kos, Olbermann wrote, “What appears to be the truth here is certainly not what Richard told us about his non-news job … until we can clarify what else he is doing, he will not be appearing with us.”

But nearly all of the established political analysts in cable news do exactly the same thing. In fact, many of them would consider themselves consultants first, who then appear on television as a means to a larger end. Should they disclose any conflicts of interest? Absolutely. But it makes little sense that Wolffe would be singled out for so commonplace a practice. Consider these pundits, all paid contributors to the networks:

Beck Advertiser “Backlash”…

Reuters’ Kenneth Hein writes about advertisers pulling out of FNC’s Glenn Beck program…

A Fox representative noted that Geico is dropping its ads from the show but was quick to note that it was shifting dollars to other programs. “The advertisers referenced have all moved their spots from Beck to other programs on the network, so there has been no revenue lost,” the rep said.

Beck’s show pulled in an average of slightly more than 2 million viewers for each of its 19 telecasts in July, according to Nielsen.

Progressive Insurance representative Cristy Cote said that there has been a lot of confusion surrounding the company’s involvement with the program. “We had not bought advertising on the show in the first place,” she said, “so when we learned that our advertising had appeared on the show by mistake, we contacted the network to correct the error.”

She said Progressive tries to “avoid programing that we believe our customers and potential customers might find extremely offensive.”

A Procter & Gamble representative echoed that sentiment: “At times our ads are run by mistake on shows that they were not meant to … Any of our ads that ran did so by mistake, and we’ll try to make sure that doesn’t happen in the future.”

Spin Control…

Portfolio’s Jeff Bercovici writes about Don Imus and FBN…

If he brought along even a fraction of his current audience, Imus could easily give a huge boost to Fox Business’ numbers. A cable news insider I spoke with believes that FBN could actually overtake CNBC in the morning by signing him. “I don’t think you attract a guy like Imus to shut the channel down,” says the source. “You bring a guy like Imus to set you up for the real business news of the day with a really big audience.”

Indeed, MSNBC’s simulcast of Imus in the Morning performed better in the Nielsens than Morning Joe, its current morning show, which is much celebrated among Beltway insiders. Moreover, notes the insider, while Imus admittedly isn’t a financial-news expert, FBN could supplement his broadcast with regular break-ins from the world of business.

Gee I wonder who this cable news insider works for? Nice spin going there. I particularly like the part about the “real business news of the day”. It’s a clever, albeit too obvious, attempt to reframe the story; to suggest that 6-9am doesn’t matter…that the “real news” happens after the market opens. That is of course bul****t…but I give them chutzpah points for trying to put that one over. If it were true CNBC wouldn’t be spending time covering 6-9 the way it does. Not for the crummy numbers they get out of it.

And MSNBC tried to get Imus to boost their morning news ratings. They tried it for 10 years. Didn’t work. People that tune in for Imus, tune in for Imus. Most tune out when Imus is done. So in the end FBN would have an Imus lead in which likely boosts FBN’s ratings, while gutting their business news brand, only to see those ratings likely drop when 9 am rolls around.

GE Blasts O’Reilly for “unconfirmed” GE Story…

The AP’s David Bauder writes about GE’s on the record response to Bill O’Reilly’s GE story on last night’s Factor…

General Electric Co. called a Fox News Channel report about the company supplying terrorists with material used in bombs “irresponsible and maliciously false” on Wednesday, as a feud between Fox’s Bill O’Reilly and MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann kept sizzling.

It was the first time that GE, the parent company of NBC News and MSNBC, had publicly responded to accusations made by O’Reilly on his Fox show.

And then there’s this…

GE spokesman Gary Sheffer said he was surprised by the report, given O’Reilly’s admission that he could not confirm GE’s involvement.

GE does not do business with Corezing, and does not produce the radio frequency modules that were described in the report, he said.

“We usually do not respond to the misleading and inaccurate claims made on this program because very few people take them seriously,” Sheffer said, “but tonight’s report took this smear campaign to a new low.”

A Fox News spokeswoman, Irena Briganti, had no immediate comment about GE’s statement. FBI spokesman Steve Kodak said the bureau does not comment about any investigations it may be doing.

Olbermann blasts O’Reilly for “unconfirmed” GE Story…

It didn’t take long for Olbermann to come back at O’Reilly for last night’s Factor broadcast on GE. If it was really that unconfirmed, as in bogus, why doesn’t GE just sue O’Reilly for defamation?

Rumor Mongering…

City File talks Olbermann and the Deal and alleged discomfort inside MSNBC…

That Olbermann was quick to put the blame on his colleagues didn’t sit very well with MSNBC insiders, we hear. The handful of lies and overall feeling that Olbermann had reignited a war that could have been brought to a close didn’t do much to endear him to his colleagues either. Especially since Olbermann’s numbers have been headed downward for months now, and there was a general feeling that a little change wouldn’t be such a bad thing. Although MSNBC management had expected to see ratings come down from their 2008 election highs, the drop-off has been more pronounced than execs at the network anticipated. Changing up the Countdown formula could have been to MSNBC’s advantage.

One other point that sticks in the craw of some MSNBC staffers is that Olbermann’s ratings began to fall off right around Olbermann renegotiated his contract with the network, a deal that immediately made him one of NBC’s highest-paid news personalities. In November 2008, NBC Universal agreed to rip up his old contract, worth an estimated $4 million a year, and offered him a new one that nearly doubled his annual salary to $7.5 million a year through 2013. The timing certainly worked out well for Olbermann. Less so for NBC Universal and MSNBC, which has watched as the show’s ratings dip and has seen Olbermann turn into more of a greater liability than they imagined.

Unfortunately for NBC execs, there’s little they do to fix the situation. MSNBC depends heavily on Olbermann, a fact made clear when he was told to tone down his rhetoric: According to the Washington Post’s Howard Kurtz, Olbermann indicated he’d be prepared to walk out the door if NBC president Jeff Zucker forced him to make substantial changes to his show as part of any secret deal with Fox News. (Not that Olbermann hasn’t threatened to quit on several occasions in the past. He has.) It’s hard to imagine where Olbermann could go if he decided to leave. And yet at the same time, NBC would be hard-pressed to fire him—even if he continues to play the rogue and ignore the directives of senior management.

Imus and FBN…

Wall Street Pit’s Ron Haruni writes about what Imus could bring to FBN. What makes this article a must read is the insider dope Haruni has been fed. There’s so much detail being revealed that you have to wonder if the FBN side clearly is expecting for this deal to happen and it’s just a question of contractual terms and conditions now.

Insiders say that Imus’ business coverage will only increase once the radio legend joins FOX Business Network.

A source close to the deal tells Wall Street Pit, the ‘Imus in the Morning’ program will feature multiple breaking business news alerts throughout each hour, topics of discussion will be increasingly business focused and FBN anchors will regularly appear on the show to break down the pre-market news. In addition, two thirds of the screen will feature business news and market tickers through the lower thirds and HD wing.

Not good enough. You’re a business channel. You cover business news. You don’t rely on a handful of business alerts, cameo appearances, and a crawl to compensate for a non-business show going up against CNBC during one of the most important business news times of the day.

FBN Numbers Peek…

The New York Times’ Brian Stelter has numbers on FBN. What makes this article so noteworthy is that 1) We get an inside peek at why FBN still isn’t publicly rated despite having more than enough subscribers (dispute with Nielsen over reliability) and B) Nielsen is named as the source for these numbers; both of which say to me that FBN had to have signed off on this story. This article also is a big clue as to why FBN would even consider all but abandoning early morning business news coverage to CNBC by putting Don Imus on. The numbers have been atrocious.

It appears that the audience for most of Fox’s programming day remains too low to be reported by Nielsen. It said it could not report ratings for the 6 to 9 a.m. time period that Mr. Imus would inhabit. (Fox Business hasn’t confirmed the talks with Mr. Imus.)

Fox’s message is decidedly one of growth, no matter how small its total audience is.
Citing more recent ratings that were provided to Fox Business by Nielsen, Kevin Magee, an executive vice president, said that his channel’s audience was “up 188 percent” while CNBC was “down 27 percent.”

“These are gigantic trend numbers,” he said.

The increases for Fox Business, of course, come from such a small base that it makes wild percentage gains relatively easy to earn. CNBC’s audience is more than 10 times the size of the Fox Business audience.

Still, Mr. Magee said twice that CNBC’s summer audience had declined this year. He also said that many of CNBC’s programs still “scratch” — an industry term for programs that do not meet the minimum audience threshold to be rated by Nielsen — “from time to time.” He added that the rival business channel Bloomberg does not subscribe to Nielsen’s public ratings.

The Hazards of Live TV: #25,014

Scroll to 2:50 mark…

Free for All: 08/12/09

What’s on your mind?

Unfair and Unbalanced?

Mediaite’s Steve Krakauer rips FNC for its coverage of the Obama town hall meeting. I hadn’t expected FNC to cover it much given past behavior so I wasn’t surprised. But Krakauer makes a pretty damning case here…

Jumping out of coverage after just two questions, FNC anchor Trace Gallagher cut in: “The White House says they expected people to come in and yell and shout a little bit. We have not seen that. We have seen a very friendly crowd here so far.”

Then he and other FNC analysts debated whether it was right for Obama not to take questions from those who disagreed with him. Juliet Huddy, guest anchoring, noted, “granted we’ve only seen a couple questions here,” before launching into a question that assumed she knew how the rest of the town hall would play out. It was Huddy who later referred to the “plants” in the crowd, and the event as “theater.”

What did Fox miss while it was busy knocking the President? Questions from Republicans, those who strongly disagreed with the proposed plan and specific calls by Obama for harder questions. Obama said he wanted questions from people who had “concerns about health care,” and people who were “skeptical or suspicious.” “I don’t want people thinking I have a bunch of plants in here,” he said.

When a network devotes precious air time to a car chase earlier in the morning but then dips out of a Presidential Town Hall just when things start getting interesting, serious questions have to be asked of its news judgement. And I too heard the first Republican step up to the plate…and I wasn’t expecting to hear from any Republicans. Obviously I was watching another channel.

It is what it is…

Mediate’s Steve Krakauer goes on a tear after CNN for what happened on Larry King Live last night…

“Our journalistic quality is higher than its ever been,” said CNN/U.S. President Jon Klein last month. And here’s what that translates to:

Describing her night with Johnston after the Teen Choice Awards, Griffin said, “I have a bruise in a naughty place.”

Later:

Griffin: How could you not shave, you’re on Larry King.

Johnston: You said you like me scruffy.

Griffin: You’re right I do like you scruffy, you dirty dog you.

This is really just the tip of the iceberg. Watch the full routine here.

Again, this is not Red Eye, Fox News’ comedy/news hybrid that airs at 3amET. It’s not MSNBC’s sarcastic Way Too Early at 5:30amET. It’s not even D.L. Hughley Breaks the News, CNN’s short-lived show fronted by a comedian that did, occasionally, break some news. This is Larry King, on CNN, at 9pmET. And it is a lot of things, but it certainly is not “journalistic.”

Me: What do you expect? It’s Larry King Live. It’s not 60 Minutes. It’s been around since dirt and nobody wants to be known as the person that tosses Larry King overboard. Besides, King’s show usually rates higher than either AC360 or Campbell Brown. So what’s CNN going to do? Cancel its strongest primetime program? I’m not defending King’s program and some of the guest hosts it has (Ryan Seacrest?). But taking a shot at CNN for what appeared on Larry King last night is akin to handing out speeding tickets at the Indy 500.

At least King’s show occasionally covers news seriously and has on A list guests from the political world. Which is more than I could say for Red Eye. Everyone knows I’m not a fan of comedy on cable news, no matter the form. But in this instance, this is harping about something that should be sort of expected in my opinion.

Free for All: 08/11/09

What’s on your mind?

Imus and FBN…

Silicon Alley Insider’s Henry Blodget follows in my footsteps and writes about what Don Imus coming to FBN would mean…

FOX Business is in talks with Imus about simulcasting his radio show from 6am-9am ET. The show would replace current programming, namely:

* “Fox Business Morning,” hosted by Connell McShane and Jenna Lee, and
* “Money for Breakfast,” anchored by Alexis Glick and Eric Bolling.

The 6am-9am slot is “primetime” for business programming. So the fact that FOX is even exploring this move suggests that it is throwing in the towel on the idea of competing with CNBC with a full-time business channel.

(Some folks may well watch Imus, but business viewers won’t).

The Case of the Disappearing GE Rant…

The above grab was taken from The Factor’s website. Note the bottom item on GE = the new Enron. It was supposed to air tonight (Monday). J$ said that on Fox and Friends this morning they talked about it at least three times. So what happened? Why didn’t the story air? Was it spiked? If so, why?

Update: Mediate’s Steve Krakauer reports that the segment is set for Tuesday night tonight…

What’s Hot/What’s Not: 08/09/09

What’s Hot:

Fight! – It’s like someone spiked all the cable news talking heads’ drinks or something. What an inflammatory week it was and it was centered around one Mr. Olbermann. In what is viewed by many as a face saving maneuver after the Times deal story broke, Olbermann renewed his fight with FNC and O’Reilly. FNC and O’Reilly renewed its feud with him GE. Dobbs and Olbermann traded punches for three nights straight.

What’s Not:

Don’t say that word – CNN apparently strong armed cable operators to keep an anti-Lou Dobbs birther ad off its air. This whole birther story is a textbook example of how to make a PR mess out of a situation. Practically every step in the process for CNN has been the wrong one.

Keith Olbermann – No matter how Olbermann tries to parse the “deal” and what his role was, or wasn’t, his resumption of attacks on O’Reilly & Co, now rings rather hollow…

NBC News – Letting Olbermann renew his assaults on O’Reilly & Co, in spite of clear signalling by GE that it considered the feud dead, says a lot. And none of it any good. But mainly it shows just how much power Keith Olbermann does wield at MSNBC and just how scared NBC is of losing its first real foothold in the primetime landscape that it would allow a situation to contiune as caustic as this one is for the network and its parent GE.

Lou Dobbs – The birther story isn’t going away and Dobbs is catching all the heat. Picking a fight with Olbermann just keeps the story alive.

Town Hall Mania – Where’s the story? It was a given that the coverage would turn out this way. Take a politically charged issue with big financial interests backing both sides, put a bunch of people in a room with the cameras on…and bang. You get what you get. But did we learn anything?

Press Releases: 08/10/09

CNBC (1)

“CNBC AND FORTUNE MAGAZINE PRESENT…FASTEST GROWING COMPANIES OF 2009” ON WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 19TH AT 9PM ET & 10PM PT ON CNBC

One-Hour Special Hosted by CNBC Managing Editor Tyler Mathisen & FORTUNE Managing Editor Andy Serwer

ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, N.J., August 10, 2009-While the rest of the world was hit hard by the economic crisis, these companies were booming-big sales, earnings and stock market gains. CNBC, First in Business Worldwide, and FORTUNE go inside the hot profit engines that could make you rich.

On Wednesday, August 19th at 9PM ET & 10PM PT, “CNBC and FORTUNE Magazine Present…Fastest Growing Companies of 2009,” co-hosted by CNBC Managing Editor Tyler Mathisen and FORTUNE Managing Editor Andy Serwer.

The one-hour special will feature profiles of five companies that made it onto this year’s list of FORTUNE’s Fastest Growing Companies, which hits newsstands on Monday, August 17th, including the company that earned the #1 spot. The companies are ranked on revenue, earnings growth and their stock returns over the past three years.

In Depth: Imus to FBN?

The LA Times’ Matea Gold writes about Don Imus maybe joining FBN…

The provocative and popular radio host is in final negotiations with the financial news network, which plans to simulcast his syndicated early-morning radio show, possibly from 3 to 6 a.m. Pacific time, as MSNBC did, according to a source familiar with the discussions. No deal is in place yet between the two parties, but if the talks conclude as anticipated, the arrangement could start sometime in September.

What this story or Mediaite’s analysis of said story doesn’t say: If this goes through, this should be seen as a capitulation by FBN to CNBC. It’s not getting the viewers. And it’s enough of a problem that FBN would seriously entertain the notion of blowing away its brand and abandoning business viewers by putting a bomb thrower like Don Imus on the air.

Sure, it should add viewers to FBN’s struggling ratings. But at what cost? Whatever gains FBN gets by putting a non-business show on the air…and don’t let that FBN insider’s quote to Mediaite (“An insider tells us the show would “incorporate more business elements” if it was simulcast on FBN.”) fool you…there’s not that much wiggle room for FBN in regards to altering Don Imus’ format, considering he still has to answer to his radio listeners who don’t tune in for business news…the bottom line is despite whatever gains FBN gets in ratings, they’re more than offset by the undermining of its brand.

The early morning hours are where the overseas markets are covered and overnight business news revealed ahead of the day’s open. Currently FBN goes head to head with CNBC in this time period. If Imus joins FBN, CNBC gets nearly exclusive coverage and retrenches its “claim” as the “real” business news leader. That’s a big deal, no matter how FBN would try and spin it. I would expect CNBC to make a lot of hay out of this. And why not? This would be a sign of weakness and, by my scorecard, the first real mis-step FBN would have made since launch. Can you see Imus talking S&P or The Fed or Sarbanes-Oxley? I can’t.

This move would also be seen in some quarters as a slap at Alexis Glick, though I’m sure FBN would move quickly to see that story doesn’t take hold, given her stature at the network, by repositioning her somehow. It’s her timeslot that would be gutted here. She would only be doing the 9-10 am hour, unless FBN intervenes somehow.

Free for All: 08/10/09

What’s on your mind? Mine was on sleep which is why I forgot to post this…

Latest on The Deal…

I was forced to leave the blog for a few days while the “deal” story was still playing itself out. Consequently it’s only now (Monday at 3:40 am PST…gulp!) that I’m only getting to Brian Stelter’s New York Times story which he put up late Friday. What’s Hot/What’s Not will be delayed until later today…

It remains to be seen whether the personal attacks will be halted again. Fox’s stance on Friday suggested that the corporate criticism would not.

“At this point,” a Fox spokeswoman said Friday, “the entire situation is more about major issues at NBC and G.E. than it is about Bill O’Reilly and Keith Olbermann.”

J$ is reporting that O’Reilly will renew his GE assault on Monday’s Factor…

What’s Hot/What’s Not: Submissions…

Post your nominations for this week’s What’s Hot/What’s Not. I’ll post the finalists late Sunday night…

Olbermann and Dobbs: Round 3

Tit…

…for tat (via J$)

Well it’s only been three rounds and I’m already tiring of this so unless one does something reallly provacative against the other I think I’m going to stop paying attention…

Press Releases: 08/07/09

CNBC (1)

CNBC TO BROADCAST A SPECIAL SERIES “YOUNG AND SUCCESSFUL” NEXT WEEK, MONDAY, AUGUST 10TH THROUGH FRIDAY, AUGUST 14TH ON CNBC’S “SQUAWK ON THE STREET” 9AM-11AM ET

Program Anchored by CNBC’s Erin Burnett and Mark Haines

ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, N.J., August 7, 2009-CNBC, First in Business Worldwide, will broadcast a special series, “Young and Successful,” next week, Monday, August 10th through Friday, August 14th on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” (9AM-11AM ET).

Anchors Erin Burnett and Mark Haines will speak with five young entrepreneurs, all safe-made millionaires. From food to finance and from music to management, these young entrepreneurs will share how they started their businesses and the secrets to their success.

Guests include:

Free for All: 08/07/09

What’s on your mind?

O’Reilly Weighs in on Dobbs/Olbermann Spat…

I was out last night and did not get to see this. Rich Schumate writes about what happened on The Factor last night.

Completing an incestuous circle of verbal combat that has now ensnared all three major cable news nets, Fox News Channel hosts Bill O’Reilly and Geraldo Rivera have jumped into the ongoing war of words between CNN’s Lou Dobbs and MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann.

On his show Thursday night, O’Reilly came to Dobbs’ defense over Olbermann’s on-air disclosure earlier in the week that Dobbs – whom his critics lambast as a nattering nabob of nativism – is married to a Latino woman and his children are half Latino. O’Reilly called the remarks “a barbaric display.”

“When your wife and children are attacked on the NBC News airwaves, it doesn’t get any lower,” he said.

More on The Deal…

The Washington Post’s Howard Kurtz finally writes about the deal between News Corp. and FNC.

On June 1, after the slaying of George Tiller, Olbermann savaged O’Reilly. Noting that O’Reilly had repeatedly attacked the abortion doctor with such broadsides as “Tiller has blood on his hands,” Olbermann suggested that O’Reilly contributed to the climate surrounding the fatal shooting. Olbermann announced that things had gotten so serious he would no longer use an O’Reilly caricature and Ted Baxter voice in mocking him. “The goal here,” he said, “is to get this blindly irresponsible man and his ilk off the air.”

The next night, O’Reilly retaliated. He said MSNBC was spewing “hate,” declaring: “Immelt is using his news operation to promote the Obama administration and liberal activities, while seeking billion-dollar government contracts from the president.” O’Reilly said his program was looking into whether GE was doing “deadly business” with Iran. He gave out Immelt’s e-mail address.

Immelt called Ailes the next morning, saying O’Reilly had gone way too far. Ailes was sympathetic and again said they should take a stand against personal and gratuitous attacks. The war, Ailes said, is over.

But the war was just beginning at MSNBC, where an opinionated culture is often at odds with NBC News. The day after Olbermann’s comments about the Tiller slaying, executives convened a large meeting and talked about Fox and the importance of striking the right on-air tone. Olbermann later expressed a willingness to make minor adjustments in his style, but he and his allies, concerned about setting a precedent, dug in for a fight. Olbermann left Zucker and executives with the impression that he might quit if the dispute wasn’t resolved to his satisfaction.