GE/Comcast Deal for NBCU Clears Another Hurdle…

The New York Times’ Tim Arango and Bill Carter write about Vivendi and GE agreeing on a selling price for Vivendi’s stake in NBC Universal..

General Electric has reached a tentative agreement with the French media conglomerate Vivendi that clears the way for the sale of NBC Universal, including the flagship NBC network, to Comcast, the nation’s largest cable operator, people briefed on the deal said Monday.

Under terms of the deal, G.E. will buy Vivendi’s 20 percent stake in NBC Universal for about $5.8 billion. It removes one of the few remaining hurdles in its plan to sell control of the television and movie company to Comcast in a $30 billion agreement that reflects the changing landscape of broadcast television.

While a deal between G.E. and Comcast still could hit a snag over the final price, it is considered highly likely: G.E. wants to sell NBC because of rising losses, and Comcast wants to buy it to control more of the television programs and movies that flow through its cable systems.

Presidential Address: MSNBC Coverage Notes…

MSNBC’s coverage plans for tomorrow night’s Presidential address

MSNBC PROGRAMMING NOTE: PRIMETIME COVERAGE OF PRESIDENTIAL SPEECH TUESDAY, DEC. 1

NEW YORK – Nov. 30, 2009 – MSNBC will present live coverage of President Barack Obama’s address to the nation on Afghanistan Tuesday, Dec. 1, beginning at 8 p.m. ET. Coverage of the speech will be followed by a special live edition of “Countdown with Keith Olbermann” at 9 p.m. ET, a special “The Rachel Maddow Show” at 10 p.m. ET, a special live “Hardball with Chris Matthews” at 11 p.m. ET and a special live “The Ed Show” at 12 a.m. ET.

MSNBC evening schedule for Tuesday, Dec. 1; all programming live and ET:

Presidential Address: CNN Coverage Notes…

CNN’s plans for covering the Presidential address tomorrow night…

CNN Delivers Live Global, Multi-Platform Coverage of the President’s Primetime Address on Afghanistan

Utilizing its world-wide resources, CNN will provide live, global, multi-platform coverage of President Barack Obama’s address on Afghanistan on Tuesday, Dec. 1. Special coverage of Decision: Afghanistan will begin at 7:30 p.m. ET. Surrounding the President’s address at 8 p.m. ET, CNN lead political anchor Wolf Blitzer, along with Campbell Brown and Anderson Cooper will anchor live coverage from New York. CNN anchors including Christiane Amanpour, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, John King and Fareed Zakaria will offer insight and analysis. Senior political analysts Gloria Borger and David Gergen will provide political perspective, while senior White House correspondent Ed Henry reports live from West Point, the site of President Obama’s address. CNN’s Michael Ware will also be reporting from New York and will offer his foreign affairs expertise. Special coverage will kick off at 7 p.m. with a special edition of CNN Tonight with John Roberts anchoring.

Free for All: 11/30/09

What’s on your mind?

Bloomberg TV Changes…

The Guardian’s Mark Sheddon writes about the changes to Bloomberg TV…(via Talking Biz News)

Wall Street brokers may get it, striped shirted London traders might understand it, but for the rest of us it might as well all be in Swahili. For most people, Bloomberg is associated with specialised business and finance news reporting, plenty of graphs, as much jargon and lots of attention paid to moving share prices.

But Bloomberg TV is in the process of a substantial revamp and relaunch. Steve Clark, the head of European and Middle East operations who was behind the launch of Al Jazeera English , says: ‘There’s a huge potential audience out there. We have more foreign bureaux than the BBC – 145 in all – and we have an army of specialist journalists, and what we will be doing is making our reporting more conversational and relevant to people. Business and finance impacts everyone.”

Jane Velez-Mitchell Interview…

Soup Cans has an interview with HLN’s Jane Velez-Mitchell…

What message do you want people who read your new book to come away with?

I want people to realize that every consumer choice they make throughout the course of their day is not just a personal choice. It is a political, environmental and – more than anything else – a moral choice.

So, if you don’t believe in cruelty to animals then don’t subsidize factory farming by buying meat from factory farms. If you don’t want our oceans to fill up with plastic, don’t use plastic bottles or plastic bags, it’s that simple. I would also like to encourage people to opt for honesty. It’s almost always an option even when you don’t think it is.

Beck Advertiser Boycott: Update…

MediaPost’s Wayne Friedman writes about what the status of the Beck Advertiser Boycott is…

Four months after major advertisers abandoned Fox News Channel’s “Glenn Beck” show — as a result of Beck’s calling President Obama a “racist” — the network has seen little change in marketers’ media strategy toward the controversial program.

Beck’s ratings pull in hefty daytime audiences — 2.8 million viewers — and the show retains middle and small-level daytime advertisers, according to media executives.

There is still no sign of top-drawer, higher-valued daytime TV advertisers, such as Procter & Gamble, Geico, Clorox, UPS Stores and Progressive Insurance. Their ads had previously appeared on the program.

A recent late November airing of “Glenn Beck” offered advertisers pushing gold and silver financial investments and services, older-skewing products and fringe nutritional products.

Dubai World Coverage: Update…

CNBC was broadcasting CNBC Asia last night at midnight to cover any more angles on the Dubai World meltdown news which broke last Friday…

Blogus Interruptus…

Blogging resumes Monday afternoon…

What’s Hot/What’s Not: 11/29/08

It’s an all Hot week…

What’s Hot:

Tiger Woods – You can bet with Wood’s apparent attempts to keep the long arm of the law away from his house and the lack of information that’s come out, that the mystery of his car accident will continue to dog him.

White House Party Crashers – This was a hot story this week but mostly because it was Thanksgiving week. If it had been a heavy news cycle this story would have been faded to a lower level.

Climate Change-Gate? – Against my better judgment I’m including this in the hot category because it has the potential to really blow up into something depending on what happens next. As of now, FNC is all over this story. Whether it’s too far out in front or it’s trailblazing a path as it did during the UN Oil for Food scandal, it’s too early to say.

“The Body” Muzzled?

The LA Times’ Scott Collins interviews Jesse Ventura. There’s only one part of the interview that really matters…(via Mediaite)

This is not your first venture into TV hosting since leaving the governorship. What happened to “Jesse Ventura’s America,” which ran briefly on MSNBC in 2003?

It was awful. I was basically silenced. When I came out of office, I was the hottest commodity out there. There was a bidding war between CNN, Fox and MSNBC to get my services. MSNBC ultimately won. I was being groomed for a five day-a-week TV show by them. Then, all of a sudden, weird phone calls started happening: “Is it true Jesse doesn’t support the war in Iraq?”

My contract said I couldn’t do any other cable TV or any news shows, and they honored and paid it for the duration of it. So in essence I had my silence purchased. Why do you think you didn’t hear from me for three years? I was under contract. They wouldn’t even use me as a consultant!

When you live in Mexico, your houses all have names. I almost named my house Casa MSNBC because they bought it. I was paid like a professional athlete, and I got very wealthy. For doing nothing.

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 on Sunday night…

Coma scam?

True/Slant’s Michael Shermer argues the coma man story that’s been in the news recently is BS. If true, some high profile TV doctors are going to have egg on their faces…(via J$)

“Communication” by Coma Man is just “ideomotor” Ouija Board effect

It’s a hoax, folks. Sorry to be the spoiler of a feel good story—that of Rom Houben, the Belgian man who allegedly “woke up” from a 23-year long coma—but the hard truth must win out over hopeful emotions. Houben’s “communications,” his “statements” about how he’s been aware all along of his condition, his “talking” to reporters (all descriptive terms used by hardened journalists softened into bleeding heart jelly) is nothing more than the “ideomotor” effect, where the brain subtly and subconsciously guides the hands and fingers over a keyboard, or a Ouija board, or directs the movements of dowsing rods in search of underground water. You think it, the hand will move there. Dr. Sanjay Gupta missed it on CNN, Dr. Nancy Snyderman missed it on MSNBC. And neuroscientists untrained in skepticism and the history of facilitated communication all missed it.

Watch the video again here and here and note what the reporters say about how Houben was speaking, saying, talking, etc. For example:

Not a great day for Business News…

Today markets endured serious declines all over the world because of this story. Problem is this is the day after Thanksgiving and neither FBN or CNBC put their best foot forward.

In the morning, if you didn’t want to sit through jokes waiting for more news, you had to switch from FBN to CNBC. FBN kept telling people that for those who wanted more analysis they should tune in to their live webcast. Not good enough. Not everyone wants to tie up their computer bandwidth in the morning like that. But it wasn’t a massively bad day in the offing. People were already speculating that US markets would not get hit as hard. One wonders what FBN would do if it was a really bad day in the making. Would it really stick with Imus and send business viewers packing to either CNBC or the FBN webcast, or would it bump Imus and go wall to wall? We’ll have to wait and see if that day ever comes and what the network ends up doing. But, for whatever shortcomings FBN had in handling the story early, it made up ground later in the day. It stayed live long past the point that markets closed and CNBC went to tape.

So it wasn’t a great day all around for the business nets. FBN kept Imus on while the story was breaking all over the world while CNBC was in full business news coverage mode. But later on in the day CNBC closed up shop while FBN stayed live. Nobody won this day. Both sides need to do some re-thinking.

CNN’s “undistinguished roster of talent”?

I would say that Variety’s Brian Lowry offers up a devastating critique of CNN. Except it’s one he’s already offered up before, at least in part.

What CNN needs, perhaps desperately, is an interviewer with the stature and gravitas of Ted Koppel, who in his “Nightline” days was able to cut to the heart of issues, without ever raising his tone of voice. Instead, CNN trots out a mostly undistinguished roster of talent — especially during the daytime hours, when news, or something like it, reigns on its competitors — then enshrouds them with distracting technological toys, from King’s “magic wall” to holograms to the new infatuation with gleaning viewer reaction from Twitter and comments posted online.

As for King, watching him interview newsmakers and travel the U.S. engaging in unenlightening chats with local folks hasn’t inspired much faith that the network’s “great hope,” as Marketwatch’s Jon Friedman proclaimed him, has a puncher’s chance of succeeding. He raised similar doubts at last summer’s TV Critics Assn. tour, when he defended CNN’s coverage of bogus controversies — usually percolating up from talkradio, such as the “birther” movement — by saying that journalists “don’t get to decide” what conversations are legitimate.

Such mealy-mouthed practices, along with CNN’s reliance on gadgets and gimmickry, have made the channel a frequent object of derision among those who should be in its corner — critics hungry for smarter, less politically tainted news. “The Daily Show With Jon Stewart” has been especially brutal in dissecting CNN’s shortcomings when the channel doesn’t fulfill its stated journalism-first mandate, exhibiting disappointment with CNN because, based in part on its lengthier history, less is expected of its rivals.

Ok, This was Funny…

When I read about “Spill O’Reilly” last night appearing on the Factor, I wasn’t sure how well that would go down. But I have to say it was pretty funny…

Free for All: 11/25/09

What’s on your mind?

Tweet of the Day…

The Washington Post’s Howard Kurtz…

Chris Matthews to Kate Obenshain: I bring you on, unlike some MSNBC shows w/o GOP guests, “so people can see what a Republican looks like”

Delusions of Grandeur…

Let me get this straight. O’Reilly believes that a two year old ambush interview everyone except O’Reilly has long forgotten is the reason Bill Moyers is leaving PBS? OOOOOOOOOOOOOkay…(via Gawker)

Free for All: 11/24/09

What’s on your mind?

Fireworks on Hardball…

The Providence Journal’s Richard C. Dujardin writes about a terse interview between Chris Matthews and Bishop Tobin over abortion. The red blogs are already screaming that Matthews went over the line…

Bishop Tobin’s debate with a Rhode Island congressman was the subject of a testy exchange Monday night in a live interview with the bishop on MSNBC’s “Hardball with Chris Matthews.”

Matthews asked the bishop what kind of laws he would write if he were a member of Congress.

“I am not a member of Congress, but if I were, I would never be in a position of supporting any abortion legislation that encourages abortion,” Tobin replied.

Update: Video…

FNC Wants Quality Control?

FishbowlDC has an internal memo from somewhere inside FNC (odd that the sender’s name is not mentioned. This is atypical for leaked memos to not properly source them) regarding “getting serious” about gaffes like the wrong Palin B-Roll video incident.

The memo warns that those involved in future “mistake chains” will receive “warning letters to personnel files, suspensions, and other possible actions up to and including termination.”

Well I’m all for quality control but this is bullying people for accidents that you can’t completely stamp out no matter how hard you try. It’s live TV. Mistakes have always happened and always will happen. Intimidation and threats are not the solution. Cleaning up the process is. I disagree that the number of “mistakes” have increased greatly in the past few months as the mysterious memo writer states. I see no marked uptick. I do see a marked uptick in the high profile nature of the gaffes, meaning they got wider media circulation, but that’s not the same thing.

I’d really love to know why FishbowlDC redacted the sender’s name. This suggests this is an unofficially official leak.

CNN talents Pilgrim and Tucker Facing Unemployment?

The New York Post’s Michael Shain writes about what’s to happen with Lou Dobbs’ former staff at CNN…(via J$)

Late Friday, the CNNers were told that they could start applying for new jobs at the all-news network — with the clear implication that their old jobs were going to end shortly.

In his years at CNN, Dobbs amassed the largest single staff at the network, according to insiders, operating independently from the rest of the network in a closed-off area of the network’s new headquarters in the Time Warner building on Columbus Circle.

Many of the long-time “Lou Dobbs Tonight” staffers, including on-air reporters Kitty Pilgrim and Bill Tucker, are facing unemployment unless they can find spots elsewhere on CNN.

MSNBC.com to take over Breaking News On Twitter feed…

Wow…Paidcontent’s Rafat Ali reports that MSNBC.com will be taking over Breaking News On’s Twitter feed. BNO has come a long way from the days when it couldn’t even get CNN’s attention with a brand new Bin Laden video.

Well, it isn’t exactly the acquisition I was hoping for, but close, and probably for the better: BNO News, of the popular @BreakingNews Twitter feed and the BNO iPhone app, is launching its business syndication venture, called BNO News Wire, and MSNBC.com has signed on as the first client. Along with that, MSNBC.com will take over the management of the @BreakingNews Twitter feed starting next month, while BNO and its 20-year old Dutch founder Michael van Poppel will now focus on developing its subscription-based wire service to sell to news companies.

BNO’s new wire-service headlines will now be fed into the Twitter feed, along with the usual third-party headlines that it aggregates. The wire service will formally launch in January and will build on some of the original stories that BNO has started doing of late, such as this and this. The BNO premium subscription-based iPhone app is not part of the MSNBC.com deal; some wire-service stories will go on the iPhone app but the ull slate will only be for the paid news media clients.

Free for All: 11/23/09

What’s on your mind?

CNN’s Future…

Crain’s Matthew Flamm writes about CNN’s future plans…

Fox News’ revenue will come to $1.3 billion, a 19% spike over the prior year. MSNBC, which has also seen ratings drop since its white-hot 2008 election streak, will be roughly flat at $365 million.

Mr. Walton says CNN’s profits have grown by more than 10% every year since 2003, and the organization is “very close” to achieving double-digit profit growth in 2009. Worldwide revenue for 2009 will be flat or slightly down, he says, but he would not reveal those numbers.

Profit growth this year can be partly attributed to not having to cover a presidential election. But Mr. Walton says that CNN recently opened a production facility in Abu Dhabi and has continued to add employees.

CNN’s lagging prime-time ratings are not for lack of trying, as was clear from the hours spent on the Balloon Boy hoax. CNN maintains that was a legitimate story, but its presence points to a basic problem with round-the-clock coverage: It leads to stories that are not always important or compelling.

“The issue is not, is there an audience for down-the-middle news?” says Tom Rosenstiel, director of the Project for Excellence in Journalism. “But is there an audience for down-the-middle news that is just momentary?”

What’s Hot/What’s Not: 11/22/09

What’s Hot:

The 8 Million Dollar Kiss-off? – The New York Post reported that CNN paid Lou Dobbs 8 million to go away…

Major Garrett interviews Obama – Though the significance of this was overstated by the blogs in my opinion, it was still a major deal.

Bill Clinton vs. Keith Olbermann – Though one writer on Mediaite swallowed the Blue Kool Aid and posted an over the top attack on Clinton; thus damaging Mediaite’s reputation as a serious alternative to The Huffington Post, the news that Bill Clinton bailed on a Free Clinic event in Little Rock because of Olbermann’s alleged “politicization” of the event was widely read as another Clinton Sister Soujah moment. We’re still waiting on Olbermann’s response to this.

Health Care Reform – Whether you’re for it or against it, it dominated the news cycle this week.

Norah O’Donnell questions a Palin supporter – Whether you agree with the line of questioning or not, and I thought there was over-reaching on both sides of that issue, it became a big topic on the internet this week.

FBN on Cablevision – No doubt about it, this is a big piece of the puzzle for FBN in the nations #1 market. FBN needed to be on Cablevision.

What’s Not:

MSNBC still not on Verizon FiOS in NYC – Amazing that a less than three year old network that isn’t officially rated by Nielsen can prod Cablevision to put it on its grid but a 13 year old network with a heckuva lot more ratings can’t prod it to drop its exclusivity deal that’s keeping the channel off Verizon FiOS in Cablevision markets.

O’Reilly vs. Hannity – The Wrap reported that Bill O’Reilly’s YouTub clip of his Sarah Palin interview was put up in a fit of pique; to upstage Sean Hannity’s Palin interview which would air first.

When’s the FNC janitor’s Palin interview going to air? – Let’s see, Hannity interviews Palin Wednesday. O’Reilly airs a two part Palin interview after that. Now Greta Van Susteren will interview Palin on Monday. Sheesh. How many more Palin interviews is FNC going to do?

Update: Well at least one more. Gretchen Carlson will interview Palin next after Greta’s interview airs. What about Cavuto? He hasn’t had his Palin interview yet. He’s being left out!!!

Four-peat – GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR…. (some of you will know what this refers to)

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 on Sunday night…

Bill Clinton vs. Keith Olbermann?

Firedoglake’s David Dayen writes about Bill Clinton deciding to skip a free medical clinic event in Little Rock tomorrow because of the actions of Keith Olbermann…

Eve had met Clinton before, most recently at the Clinton Global Initiatives event in September, and President Clinton remembered her.

Eve told Clinton that she was in town for the clinic, which at least 1,500 patients are expected to attend. Clinton said that he had heard about it.

“I really wanted him to come,” she said. “So I made my pitch.”

She also said she planned to meet with Arkansas Lt. Governor Bill Halter, who had been instrumental in finding a venue for the event.

Clinton responded that Olbermann was politicizing the clinic, and that it wasn’t helpful for Olbermann to do that. He said he did not feel he could show up now, because the event had turned political.

Eve said that Halter had been very helpful, and that the event was not political. She said that Halter’s intercession had been key in getting the Convention center to give the clinics space.

Clinton replied that the event was becoming political, and that it was clear what was happening: a primary of Blanche Lincoln.

Press Releases: 11/20/09

CNBC (2)

CNBC PRESENTS “MEETING OF THE MINDS: REBUILDING AMERICA” ON WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 2ND AT 8PM ET

CNBC Assembles Some of the Biggest Names In Manufacturing and Government To Explore The Big Issues Affecting Americans In This Economic Crisis

Maria Bartiromo to Lead Unprecedented One-Hour CNBC Special Event From Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA

ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, N.J. – November 20, 2009 – Manufacturing led the United States to become the richest nation in the world and has been the backbone of this country. But times have changed and today’s economy values innovation and design over manual labor — emphasizing mind over matter. This sea change has spurred many questions: Are the manufacturing jobs in the U.S. gone forever? Does an economy that doesn’t produce anything have any real value and has ‘Made in the USA’ died, taking with it the soul of our country?