Cable News “Protectionism”…
The Daily Beast’s Howard Kurtz writes about CBS’ new morning show. But this tidbit is what got my attention and a notation on this blog…
In a bid to move upscale, CBS came extremely close to signing Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, the hosts of MSNBC’s political chatfest Morning Joe—so close that they were promised complete creative control and the deal was set to be announced. But as the duo was having second thoughts about the switch, NBC chief executive Steve Burke killed the idea, saying he wouldn’t let them abandon one of his favorite shows.
The potential ramifications when their contracts next come up for renewall of Burke blocking a potential move away from MSNBC for the Morning Joe duo are interesting to contemplate.
Inside Cable News 
November 14, 2011 at 8:19 am
why in the world wouldn’t NBC block it? If the TODAY SHOW asked to move to CBS I assume they would block that too.
November 14, 2011 at 9:03 am
I don’t see Joe & Mika leaving as all that big a loss. Assuming the format remained the same there are lots of replacements at MSNBC that could carry the show. A Chuck Todd/Chris Jansing combo comes to mind. Others that could do it include Michael Steel/Melissa Harris-Perry or Ezra Klein/Contessa Brewer.
The big question is what do you do with Willie Geist? He has had a much bigger role in the show lately and I would expect he would be in the mix as a lead host. The problem with WG is he lacks the political cred of the others I suggest.
November 14, 2011 at 9:13 am
Maybe I’m not remembering this right, but I seem to recall there were all sorts of huffy denials from MSNBC, Morning Joe, etc, that any of this was going on. Now it turns out to have been true all along, and they were ‘this close’ to actually moving to CBS.
November 14, 2011 at 9:49 am
^ You were expecting that MSNBC would be not denying the story.
you know very well that every network denies that their on-air talent is leaving until they can’t deny it anymore.
Save the fake outrage for something less obviously partisan. 🙂
November 14, 2011 at 9:55 am
What’s partisan about it? For that matter, where did I say I was ‘outraged’, fake or otherwise? Seems like you’re trying to create outrage where none exists.
November 14, 2011 at 10:42 am
Others that could do it include Michael Steel/Melissa Harris-Perry or Ezra Klein/Contessa Brewer.
Wouldn’t work: the show’s name is already taken. (goes for both pairings)
November 14, 2011 at 10:57 am
“Wouldn’t work: the show’s name is already taken. (goes for both pairings)”
Wow Larry won’t be pleased with your treading on his juvenile humor role on this website. 😉
November 14, 2011 at 11:23 am
Fritz, you are a trouble-maker and everyone knows how I feel about trouble-makers.
November 14, 2011 at 2:07 pm
I think Up w/ Chris Hayes was created in part to be an insurance policy against a Morning Joe defection.
November 14, 2011 at 3:18 pm
Isn’t the idea to try to GET viewers? No one watches Joe and Mika on MSNBC; why would they watch on CBS?
November 14, 2011 at 3:36 pm
No one watches Joe and Mika on MSNBC.
No, the average idiot watches Fox & Friends. Never underestimate the Stupid Factor behind strong ratings.
November 14, 2011 at 6:43 pm
No one watches Joe and Mika on MSNBC; why would they watch on CBS?
Obviously someone watches. Otherwise CNN wouldn’t have just killed off American Morning.
November 14, 2011 at 8:10 pm
Actually, I tried to find their ratings and could find nothing on cable ratings except for prime time. Last time I looked they were low. So what are they nowdays, esp. WRT their competition?
November 14, 2011 at 8:22 pm
I link to the ratings every day, and they usually include the morning shows too. Here’s an example:
http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2011/11/11/cable-news-ratings-for-thursday-november-10-2011/110409/
November 15, 2011 at 3:56 am
J$, ,thanks for the info. MJ is doing better than the last time I looked, and seems to have exactly half the audience (in total viewers and each age group) as Fox and Friends.
It’s doing better than the CNN, CNBC and HLN programs that it competes with, but is still not huge in ratings. Does CBS really think THAT is there answer? Maybe their lib viewers would turn in after all; who knows?
November 15, 2011 at 5:33 am
MoJo isn’t always that high; on most days they are closer to HLN and CNN than they were that Saturday. But they are doing better than a few years ago, though still waaay behind F&F.
November 15, 2011 at 5:33 am
Then they were that Thursday is of course what I typed, but the keyboard changed it to Saturday.
March 29, 2019 at 9:16 am
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