MSNBC Changes Up Dayside…Removes Yet Another Hour of News…Adds More Progressive Hours

MSNBC has changed up its dayside schedule. On the one hand this does create clear definitive lines between its news anchors and its non news anchors with the newsies being grouped together from 9-1pm ET. On the other hand the network has managed to drop yet another hour of news for Progressive POV analysis.

Look at this…

1 PM – Ronan Farrow
2 PM – Joy Reid
3 PM – The Cycle
4 PM – Alex Wagner
5 PM – Ed Schultz
6 PM – Al Sharpton
7 PM – Chris Matthews
8 PM – Chris Hayes
9 PM – Rachel Maddow
10 PM – Lawrence O’Donnell

Um…does anyone else notice the complete lack of originality in this lineup? It is almost universally monotone in structure. Excepting Schultz’s fire and brimstone, Matthews’ wonkiness, and the blank slate that Ronan Farrow still basically is, you could swap these hosts and their shows around without any significant flow disruption occurring from a content standpoint. Does anyone at 30 Rock see the absolute redundancy piled upon redundancy potential at work here?

I am having a very hard time squaring this lineup with Phil Griffin’s discussion about broadening his network’s coverage this year. This lineup isn’t built for that. It is built to double down on that big Progressive bet Griffin made a few years ago. It may lock in those progressives but I fear it will lock out everyone else looking for a bit more diversity of subject matter.

Branding Run Amok: #1,013

NewsBusters’ Matt Hadro writes about Erin Burnett giving airtime to a muppet running for President…

When asked how he would pay for the payroll tax cut as President, the Muppet answered he would “Throw rich people in jail. Take their money, and then give it to everybody else. Number one. Boom. Done. Yeah.”

“And you’re a Republican,” an incredulous Burnett answered before Quasniki fired back “Well, I’m – you know what, I’m an American. Right now I’m only running as Republican because they’re a bunch of clowns, but you never know, I’m an American. I’m for the people.”

Why was this puppet running for the Republican nomination? “I was driving in my car a couple of weeks ago and I was listening to the debates. And I’m thinking to myself this is all a bunch of bulls***, and I’m tired of it, and I’m going to change it and make America good again. Or at least get us back in the playoffs,” Quasniki ranted to Burnett.

With all that’s going on in the world right now and with Burnett’s show being so new, why on earth was time devoted on OutFront to a muppet running for President? Burnett’s biggest perceived weakness amongst her critics is operating outside of her Business news comfort zone. She needs to hit home runs outside of the Business news world with compelling journalism to sway those critics and prove them wrong. Having a muppet on and having to play straight man in an interview that serves little journalistic value, though tons of PR value for Henson Alternatives, doesn’t help things any.

Save this crap for The Daily Show and get Burnett back on track…

Branding Run Amok: #1,012

CNN announced that it’s going to be airing fellow Time Warner channel HBO’s 24/7 series of the Maywather/Ortiz fight run up. I’m sure this helps HBO promote the upcoming pay-per-view. I’m less sure how this helps CNN’s news branding…

CNN Broadcasts HBO ® Reality Series 24/7 Mayweather/Ortiz

The Boxing Special Airs at Midnight ET/PT on CNN/U.S beginning Saturday, August 27

HBO’s Emmy-Award®-winning reality series ‘24/7’ is coming to CNN, which will air replays of the all-new four-part series 24/7 MAYWEATHER/ORTIZ, beginning Saturday, August 27 at midnight ET/PT.

In the lead-up to the blockbuster HBO Pay-Per-View® telecast on September 17 in Las Vegas when Floyd Mayweather and Victor Ortiz battle for Ortiz’s world welterweight title, CNN will present all four episodes of 24/7 MAYWEATHER/ORTIZ, the all-access, behind-the-scenes pass that allows viewers to step into the lives of the fighters before they step into the ring. Mayweather lives and trains in Las Vegas, NV, while Ortiz is based in his hometown of Ventura, CA.

Branding Run Amok: #1,011

CNBC put out a head scratching press release this morning…

CNBC’S “60 MINUTES ON CNBC” WILL PREMIERE ON JANUARY 5TH

“60 Minutes on CNBC” will premiere on Wednesday, January 5th at 10pm, and will repeat that evening at 1am.

The remaining episodes (20 in total) will air on Tuesdays at 10pm and 1am. The prior week’s show will air at 9pm/12am on Tuesdays.

“60 Minutes on CNBC” is the best business stories from one of the most honored news programs in television history. The series takes you a step further into hard hitting investigative reports, interviews, profiles, and features stories that have made “60 Minutes” required viewing for millions. CNBC brings you the latest on these classic stories with updates and never before-seen-footage of these award winning business news stories.

Way to screw your own side over CNBC. CBS News must be rolling on the floor with laughter that it managed to pull this off at the expense of NBC News. It’s akin to sticking out a big middle finger to everyone at Dateline. CBS gets free advertising on a competitor’s sister channel. NBC News gets to suffer the ignominy that its own documentaries and specials were passed over for a rival news division’s. This had to have been signed off on by Jeff Zucker which makes this all the more bizarre. I know Zucker loves docs but those are usually his own empire’s docs…not a rival’s. What the hell happened to that synergy thing Jeff?

Branding run Amok: #1,010

CNN Observations has details on a new CNNI branding campaign…

CNN International has unveiled a new range of branded diaries following Turner CN Enterprises announcement in March that it planned to expand the licensing business beyond its channel properties.

Titled CNN Life, the collection features two notebooks and a pocket diary, and contains insights and information on various countries and business travel destinations around the world.

Yeah…when I watch CNNI – admittedly not that often since I can’t get CNNI in the U.S. on DirecTV! (grumble, grumble) – I immediately get the urge to run out and buy a notebook or diary with a CNN logo on it…

Branding Run Amok: #1,009

FBN has been regularly covering the hostage crisis at the Discovery Communications headquarters. Um, why? Is Discovery stock in danger of tanking? Y’know, I’d love to give the network the benefit of the doubt but this seems to me like a naked attempt at a ratings grab by broadcasting sensational news that has nothing to do with FBN’s charter, which itself is kind of a pointless exercise since FBN doesn’t release its ratings. The problem is that this is not an isolated incident and FBN is developing the reputation of having a “cover anything if it can get a number” strategy regardless of the propriety of covering it.

Update: Et tu, CNBC? Ok, I’ll grant there is a bit of a business angle if there’s concerns about the CEO, but once it’s established that he’s safe it’s no longer a business story…it reverts to a crime story.

Branding Run Amok? Not so fast…

When I first was told by an emailer that CNBC was advertising on Facebook’s Mafia Wars I thought “You gotta be kidding me…” What on earth does CNBC have to do with Mafia Wars? Then I saw the ad. It’s for CNBC’s Mob Money special. Now suddenly the ad stopped appearing silly and started looking very shrewd. Sure, the likelihood that anyone who plays Mafia Wars would be interested in such a documentary is low. But I have to give CNBC points for at least thinking in a creative manner. I would feel differently if the ad was for one of CNBC’s non-mob related docs…

Branding Run Amok: #1,008

Larry Gatlin will fill in on Don Imus’ show on FBN in late June and, according to Cindy Watts at TuneIn Music City, will have lots of business news musical guests…

While in the host’s seat, Gatlin plans to invite some of musical colleagues onto the show for in-studio performances, and will discuss the day’s news with various political analysts over the course of the broadcast.

What word is missing from this story but not the name of the network? Urmm…business?

Branding Run Amok: #1,007

What exactly do riots in Thailand have to do with severe weather?

Update: For that matter, what does the International Space Station have to do with severe weather?

Branding Run Amok: #1,006

CNBC has announced that it’s doing a movie night. I don’t care if the movies are business related. Though it’s cheaper to do than trying to come up with fresh business news content for primetime, it’s a really stupid idea and undermines CNBC’s brand. And don’t buy that “throughout the summer” caveat. We’ve been down this road with NBC Universal networks before. They always announce permanent changes as temporary, that way if the plans fail they can say it was just temporary anyway. MSNBC’s history in particular is littered with programming changes that were supposedly temporary.

Branding Run Amok: Example 1,005

From the season finale of NBC’s “Mercy”. CNBC being shown off breaking non-business news. What were the producers thinking? Why not use MSNBC instead?

Update: Yes, I have created a new category called “Branding Run Amok”

Branding Run Amok: Example 1,004

It looks like Bloomberg TV won the rights to broadcast FIA GT1 racing series.

In a ground-breaking broadcast deal, the FIA GT1 World Championship will be screened on Bloomberg Television for the next two years.

The agreement means that FIA GT1 races will be broadcast live or delayed in a number of territories as well as the screening of a one-hour highlights package of the whole weekend worldwide.

Bloomberg Television, which has a global footprint of over 245 million households, will have a news crew on site at FIA GT1 World Championship race weekends producing extensive race coverage, feature material and interviews from each round of the championship.

In announcing the agreement, Stephane Ratel, the promoter of the series, said: “Bloomberg Television is a fantastic broadcast affiliate for the FIA GT1 World Championship.

Oh, really? I know Bloomberg can be a bit eccentric at times with its programming, particularly at night, but what does car racing have to do with business news? At least it’s on weekends and not during key weekday business hours as is the case with Imus on FBN, so Bloomberg isn’t ceeding much business programming time (note that Bloomberg Asia Pacific is apparently exempt from this deal). But still this seems to me like a bald faced ploy for ratings at the expense of branding…

Branding Run Amok: Example 1,003

From an emailer…

In the 2pm hour FBN actually wasted time covering a stuck county fair ride in Miami-Dade. What does this have to do with business news? The story was already being covered by FNC, CNN, and MSNBC from the same WSVN chopper feed.

Indeed.

Branding Run Amok: Example 1,002

From an emailer…

Today the Weather Channel is airing a report on the Academy Award nominations at the bottom of the hour. Please tell me what the Academy Awards have to do with weather? These non weather segments are getting ridiculous.

Well I suppose if there was a weather related movie, there could be some sort of tie in there…

yeah..right.

Branding Run Amok: Example 1,001

From an emailer…

“It’s a Fox Business exclusive”. They’re interviewing Ron Paul about Afghanistan.

Branding Run Amok: Example 1,000

Broadcasting & Cable’s Alex Weprin writes about…and I kid you not…CNN selling shirts with CNN headlines on them…

Apparently not content to offer news you can use, CNN is peddling news you can wear.

Call it prêt-a-reporter: Beginning Monday, visitors to CNN.com will be able to purchase T-shirts featuring headlines from the site’s video reports.

By clicking on a new T-shirt icon that will accompany the headlines, news fans can order a custom crew-neck — in black, white or grey — emblazoned with the headline along with the slogan, “I just saw it on CNN.com,” and the time stamp from the moment they clicked.