ABC in Talks with Univision for New English Cable News Channel…

The New York Times’ Brian Stelter and Amy Chozick write about ABC talking to Univision about doing an English language cable news channel following a Wall Street Journal’s Adrian Campo-Flores and Sam Schechner who broke the story earlier this evening…

The new channel could combine the resources of Disney’s ABC News and Univision’s news division to rival established news entities like Fox News Channel, MSNBC, and CNN. It would be geared toward English-speaking Hispanics in the U.S., whose numbers are growing.

“This would go head-to-head with CNN,” said a person with knowledge of the talks who, along with others involved, insisted on anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the record.

A new channel in partnership with Univision might allow ABC News to trim some of the news-gathering costs it incurs and to share in the subscriber fees that cable channels gobble up. For some of the same reasons, ABC News has flirted in the past with a partnership with Bloomberg TV.

Nevada Caucuses: Fast Nationals…

CNN is noting its fast national ratings for the Nevada Caucuses…

According to Nielsen time period for Nevada Caucuses – Saturday, February 4, 2012

Highlights:

CNN tops MSNBC in primetime (8-11pm) and during key coverage block (7-11pm)
CNN showed the most primetime growth vs. non-primary nights
CNN topped FNC and MSNBC at 11pm in the key demo

During Saturday night’s coverage of the GOP Nevada Caucuses, CNN topped MSNBC in primetime (8-11pm) in both total viewers and in the key demo adults 25-54. In total viewers, CNN averaged 595k a +37% advantage over MSNBC’s 433k and in the target demo, CNN posted 174k a +23% lead over MSNBC’s 142k. (FNC aired Huckabee at 8 pm and Justice with Judge Jeanine at 9pm on Saturday night.)

FNC’s Dominance…

Multichannel News’ Mike Reynolds writes about FNC’s dominance in the ratings…

Vice president of affiliate sales Tim Carry would not specify FNC’s rates. He did say, though, that FNC is currently in the midst of third distribution phase — the first spanned from 1996 through 2006, the second for the most part from that year into 2011 — that has already resulted in renewals with DirecTV, Dish Network, Cablevision Systems, the National Cable Television Cooperative, Verizon Communications’ FiOS TV and AT&T’s U-verse.

“We want to maximize value to systems through license fees as a top tier-cable network and bring that back to News Corp.,” Carry said, adding that by election time FNC expects to conclude renewals covering 50% of its subscriber base.

How long can FNC stay on top? “Longevity is built up,” said Brooks. “If some of their talent, an O’Reilly, who’s a smart guy in the way he produces his show and draws ratings and who can hold his own when interviewing Obama or anyone, were to leave or retire then there might be an opening. But many people would tune in to see his replacement. A dramatic shift would not occur overnight.”

Horizon’s Adgate agreed, noting it would take a combination of internal and external factors to trigger a major shift. “Unless Fox personalities move on and the competition comes up with top-level personalities of their own, it’s going to be difficult to make inroads,” he said. “I don’t see things changing any time soon.”

CNN Names Jim Acosta National Political Correspondent…

CNN announced that it’s tapped Jim Acosta to be a National Political Correspondent…

CNN Promotes Jim Acosta to National Political Correspondent

Jim Acosta has been named national political correspondent, it was announced today by Sam Feist, Washington bureau chief and senior vice president. Acosta begins his new assignment as national political correspondent immediately.

“Jim has been an outstanding addition to the political team,” said Feist. “He has emerged as one of the key reporters on the campaign trail and his astute reporting skills will only help to position the network to dominate this important election cycle.”

“Having grown up just outside of the nation’s capital, I’m very excited about this new assignment,” said Acosta. “I am honored to be part of CNN’s political team, which is second to none.”

In this new role, Acosta will work closely with the network’s political unit to provide coverage of the 2012 campaign including the primary races, the presidential debates, and the political conventions. He will also cover important stories on policy and culture for various CNN programs, including The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer and John King, USA.

Free for All: 02/06/12

What’s on your mind?

Bret Baier Profile…

The AP’s David Bauder profiles Bret Baier…

“The most vocal critics of Fox, most of them have not watched our news shows,” he said. “I say to them, give me three days. Watch my show. Watch Shepard Smith’s show.”

Moderating the GOP presidential debates has been an education for Baier, who had never done that duty before on a national-level campaign. Mostly, it involved learning to avoid open-ended questions that candidates could slip away from and use as a launching pad for speeches.

“I do think that people get fed up with the back and forth, the day-to-day attacks,” he said. “But that’s part of politics as we know it now. I do think there’s a hunger for substance. I actually think that’s one of the reasons our show succeeds.”

Current TV and Olbermann

In a semi-must read, Newsweek’s Rebecca Dana writes about the future of Current TV and Keith Olbermann…

“When we were able to land Keith Olbermann, which was a great programming coup for us, what flowed from that coup was the strategic imperative that we go all in,” Hyatt tells Newsweek. “We are coming now to where a lot of people thought we were always going to be.”

The plan may well be the network’s last chance. The lion’s share of its $115 million in revenues comes from fees that cable carriers pay to host the network—a relatively high rate of 12 cents per subscriber—but its ratings are not high enough to sustain those fees, according to an analysis by the financial-data firm SNL Kagan. With carriage agreements beginning to expire in the next couple of years, the network is likely to see a sharp drop in financing unless its viewership turns around. “They’ve got a very limited window here to get their programming in order,” says Derek Baine, an analyst with SNL Kagan. “The channel has been around for a long time and has gone through many iterations, but despite having quite a lot of subscribers, they’ve never really latched on to a significant viewing audience.”

Dana adds that Current is working on getting a liberal morning program on the air to take on Morning Joe.