Breaking! No more Keith! with Up Dates

Consider this a working thread.

My father, Richard, who is a devoted fan and TheMomCat have both informed me that Keith is fired.

Comcast coincidence?

I don’t have any more information.  Developments below.

Keith’s Sudden Farewell!

From Josh Marshall @ TPM, Keith’s first guest has left and arrived home to hear the news! He had no inkling of what was about to happen.

I was just on in the opening segment of Olbermann tonight. And I get home and get this press release from NBC saying this was the last episode of Countdown. At first I figured it had to be a spoof email because, jeez, I was on and I didn’t have any sense that any other than a regular Friday evening show was on. But sure enough I pulled up the recording and now I’m watching his final sign off.

MSNBC released the following statement on their new programming order:

Starting Monday, January 24, “The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell” will move to 8 p.m. ET/PT and “The Ed Show,” hosted by Ed Schultz, will move to 10 p.m. ET/PT on MSNBC. The announcement was made today by Phil Griffin, President of MSNBC. “The Rachel Maddow Show” will continue to air live at 9 p.m. ET/PT.

   Also starting Monday, Cenk Uygur, MSNBC contributor and host of the popular web show “The Young Turks,” will be filling in as host of the 6 p.m ET hour.

The New York Times

9:24 p.m. | Updated Keith Olbermann, the highest-rated host on MSNBC, announced abruptly on the air Friday night that he is leaving “Countdown with Keith Olbermann” immediately.

The host, who has had a stormy relationship with the management of the network for some time, especially since he was suspended for two days last November, came to an agreement with NBC’s corporate management late this week to settle his contract and step down.

In a closing statement on his show, Mr. Olbermann said simply that it would be the last edition of the program. He offered no explanation other than on occasion, the show had become too much for him.

Mr. Olbermann thanked his viewers for their enthusiastic support of a show that had “gradually established its position as anti-establishment.”

Sen. Bernie Sanders

The mega-merger of Comcast-NBC will lead to less local news coverage, fewer points of view, & reduced competition for viewers & ads.

Twitter is going wild! Rachel Maddow is on with Bill Maher.

John Arivosis at AMERICAblog has a petition

I Stand with Keith

Rachel Maddow Addresses Keith Olbermann’s MSNBC Departure On Real Time

From the Guardian.uk

Keith Olbermann abruptly fired by NBC

Keith Olbermann, the controversial MSNBC cable news host, has his contract abruptly terminated by parent company NBC

Keith Olbermann, the liberal, outspoken anchor of MSNBC’s Countdown show, had his contract dramatically terminated by the US cable new network’s parent company NBC on Friday night.

Abruptly announcing that the current show would be his last, Olbermann calmly read aloud a poem by James Thurber before signing off with the words: “Good night and good luck.”

While Olbermann was live on-air, NBC issued a statement reading:

   Statement regarding Keith Olbermann

   MSNBC and Keith Olbermann have ended their contract. The last broadcast of Countdown with Keith Olbermann will be this evening. MSNBC thanks Keith for his integral role in MSNBC’s success and we wish him well in his future endeavors.

The Associated Press reported that Phil Griffin, MSNBC’s president, would not comment on Olbermann’s exit. But a spokesman did say that the acquistion of NBC Universal by Comcast, which received regulatory approval this week, had nothing to do with the decision.

Bizarrely, nearly half an hour later during an ad break in the following programme, MSNBC showed a station promo featuring Olbermann. But the promo was interrupted halfway through by a mattress advertisment.

21 comments

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  1. if you’d heard this.

    this is the link i got:

    http://latimesblogs.latimes.co

  2. NEW YORK – January 21, 2011 – Starting Monday, January 24, “The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell” will move to 8 p.m. ET/PT and “The Ed Show,” hosted by Ed Schultz, will move to 10 p.m. ET/PT on MSNBC. The announcement was made today by Phil Griffin, President of MSNBC. “The Rachel Maddow Show” will continue to air live at 9 p.m. ET/PT.

  3. maybe she’ll say sumpin

  4. More Verbal Vomit.

    Fucking Villagers

  5. You, Sir, were our Ed Murrow, our Kronkite. Russert had every reason to be proud of you, we were too….damnit.

  6. john aravosis started a petition “i stand with keith.” here are his remarks:

    “I’ve created a petition for folks to stand with Keith. I’m not usually a petition fan, but this deserves one. The message is simple: I stand with Keith.

    Keith says he was told “this is going to be the last edition of your show.” Here’s the rather curt statement from MSNBC.

    Wow. Not a smart move by MSNBC. More than a few folks on Twitter, and elsewhere, are noting the interesting coincidence of Comcast being given approval to take over NBC just three days ago. Rather interesting timing. It’s also interesting that the Republicans take over the House and suddenly Keith is gone – perhaps MSNBC has decided it wants more conservatives, or at least to lose its fiercest liberals.

    If I were CNN, I’d hire him fast. This is the kind of energy and intellect CNN needs in its evening shows (not that it doesn’t have some good talent). But Olbermann knows TV. And he’s no Glenn Beck, but at the same time is a perfect counterpoint to the Becks of the world.”

  7. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_

    quick get it before they change it!

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