Keith Olbermann To Launch Internet Venture?

Not 24 hours has elapsed since Keith Olbermann shocked the cable news world by announcing that Countdown has reached ignition and been lifted off the MSNBC schedule. And due to the vague explanations offered by the principals, the public is left to their imagination as to what happened.

Today The Wrap is reporting that the move was entirely driven by Olbermann’s desire to become an Internet media baron:

“With two years left on his $7 million a year contract, Olbermann was seeking a full exit package but he really has his eye on creating his own media empire in the style of Huffington Post.”

Why not? It seems like everybody’s doing it.

Back in the day Matt Drudge, a small-time scandal monger, began publishing his conjecture-laden tabloid, The Drudge Report. Then his spawn, the terminally choleric Andrew Breitbart, followed with his BigWhatever network of outright lie sites. Tucker Carlson, the Biggest Loser (who may hold the Guinness record for the number of times he’s been canceled) launched his Daily Caller. Former MSNBC chief Dan Abrams founded Mediaite. Even Glenn Beck jumped on the bandwagon and lit up The Blaze, an appropriate masthead for a purveyor of incendiary rhetoric.

Still the leader in this parade of personality-driven press is The Huffington Post. If Olbermann chooses this model for an online presence it could be profoundly rewarding. He has a built-in following that already resides in cyberspace. He would have no problem attracting investors. He could cover the issues that interest him most and would be free to appear on any television network to discuss the stories he breaks online.

One minor point, last year Tucker Carlson boasted that he had acquired the domain name, keitholbermann.com. It was a typically puerile act on Carlson’s part that was also brazenly hypocritical. Read the whole sordid story here. Olbermann may have to retrieve his name from Carlson, but that shouldn’t be difficult under the current regulations of the World Intellectual Property Organization, the agency governing such matters.

I, for one, would be thrilled to see the launch of the Olbermann Observer Online. But as with everything else that has been written about his future since the surprise announcement, this story is not verified by any authoritative source. Howard Kurtz is saying the separation was the inevitable result of frayed relations between Olbermann and MSNBC management (i.e. the reprehensible Phil Griffin). And the suggestion that Olbermann initiated the departure doesn’t square with his statement that he was “told” that last night was “going to be the last edition” of his show.

MSNBC has already announced schedule changes to shore up the Olbermann hole. Lawrence O’Donnell is moving up to Olbermann’s 8:00pm slot. Ed Schultz will go to primetime to replace O’Donnell at 10:00pm. And Cenk Uygur will fill in for Schultz at 6:00pm.

If it were up to me I’d make additional daytime adjustments as well. There is no reason for two episodes of Chris Matthews’ Hardball in the afternoon. His ratings certainly don’t warrant the real estate. I’d let him have 7:00pm and give the 5:00pm slot to recently retired congressman Alan Grayson, where he would be on opposite Glenn Beck. That’s a ratings war I’d love to see.

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6 thoughts on “Keith Olbermann To Launch Internet Venture?

  1. Thank you for making the shocking news (I screamed in disbelief when I heard it) more palatable.

  2. “If it were up to me I’d make additional daytime adjustments as well. There is no reason for two episodes of Chris Matthews’ Hardball in the afternoon. His ratings certainly don’t warrant the real estate. I’d let him have 7:00pm and give the 5:00pm slot to recently retired congressman Alan Grayson, where he would be on opposite Glenn Beck. That’s a ratings war I’d love to see.”

    I love this idea!!

  3. If it’s so easy for him to get his domain name back, why hasn’t he done it yet?

  4. Wow Mark, how can you stay silent on all the money he makes? You like to tell people how to spend their money or what is right since you have all this knowledge – or how much they make is too much, why not comment on this guys fat paycheck…oh yeah, he believes what you do, so a pass is fine. Of course if he is really into creating his own media thing as suggested, that must be a proper and acceptable way to spend his millions, but what about all the good the government can do with that money or what he should do with that money that is acceptable to you? How can you possibly support his level of pay – no one should need that much to live. come on…you’ve got to comment on his probable elitist lifestyle – or whatever $7 million a year is called in your world.

    • What on earth are you rambling about? Certainly not anything that I ever said. Are you off your meds? Or are you just so intellectually vacant that you can’t have a substantive, coherent discourse?

  5. Thank-you so much for your piece. As as one of his fans, on tv and in the cyber world, I think an online venture would be wonderful for him…He does have a big following online and without the constraints on the media big wigs, he would have the freedom to report and comment within his own scope.I would be a subscriber.
    I’m not really good at making expressing myself very well online and it’s probably not my place to say….but 7 million is not as much as other media spokepersons get( check some of the Fox guys price tag) and he has far from an elitist lifestyle as he is involved in many charities and taking the time to answer sometimes silly questions from cyber fans like me…posting pictures ofthe wonders of New York…and his really cool baseball blog.. brings his image a bit more down to earth..( at least for this old lady).

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