An emailer writes in that Brian Williams hosted a 10 minute segment on the Middle East Crisis before Rita Cosby came on…

UPDATE: Clarifying this a bit…Williams was on as a taped package. He wasn’t live.

TVNewser reports that Rita Cosby will host her first Special tonight at 10 pm ET. It will be on the Middle East crisis. A second special is planned for tomorrow night…

CableWorld writes about CNN’s new PSA initiative that features top talent like Dr. Sanjay Cooper, Robin Meade, Paula Zahn, and Anderson Cooper…

The next step is bringing the talent’s message live to affiliates, with events similar to the Fit Nation series of town hall meetings about obesity that Dr. Sanjay Gupta ran on college campuses in eight markets this spring, says Scot Safon, SVP of marketing and promotion, CNN Worldwide. The PSAs and events “help affiliates reach the community in a way other than straight marketing,” says Gary Brockman, VP of network marketing and operations, Turner Network Sales. It’s working–since making Dr. Gupta’s Health Tips PSA series available in April, more than 60 markets have carried it.

CNBC announced that it is changing the name of “CNBC Townhall” to “CNBC Survival Guide”…

EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY, THE NEW CNBC PROGRAM, PREVIOUSLY TITLED “CNBC TOWNHALL” IS NOW CALLED “CNBC SURVIVAL GUIDE.” THE LIVE AUDIENCE PROGRAM, AIRING EVERY THURSDAY AT 8PM, FEATURES A STUDIO AUDIENCE THAT, EACH WEEK EXPLORES A DIFFERENT SINGLE MONEY-ORIENTED TOPIC.

THIS THURSDAY, 7/20, AT 8PM ET, “CNBC SURVIVAL GUIDE” WILL EXPLORE YOUR MONEY IN A WORLD UNDER FIRE. CNBC WILL TALK TO THE SMARTEST MINDS TO FIND OUT HOW TO COPE WITH THE INCREASED RISKS FOR YOU AND YOUR MONEY.

CNN announced that Ali Velshi will host a special on American business this Thrusday on CNN Radio at 2pm ET…

CNN business anchor Ali Velshi takes a free-wheeling, expansive look at the American free enterprise system in “The State of Business in America.” This special one-hour program for CNNRadio affiliates will air on Thursday, July 20, at 2 p.m. (ET)

During the program, Velshi delves into the characteristics of a successful enterprise in today’s competitive market, providing insights from top business leaders. Guests for the program include:

- John Bogle, founder of Vanguard Mutual Funds, who contends many CEOs do not earn their pay;
- Robert Brusca, an economist with Fact and Opinion Economics who claims the strength of the U.S. economy enables it to weather scandal and bad management;
- Bryan Dumaine, editor of Fortune magazine, who explains why the present is as good a time as ever to start a new business in America;
- Rieva Lesonsky, editor of Entrepreneur magazine, who says technology has improved the ability of more people to get into business for themselves;
- David Newton, professor of entrepreneurial finance at Westmont College in Santa Barbara, Calif.;
- Nina Vaca, founder of Pinnacle, an IT services provider that struggled through tough times before creating a profitable and secure future.

“The State of Business in America” will also be available on iTunes and the podcasting page on CNN.com, which can be found at

July 14
P2+ Total Day
FNC - 998,000 viewers
CNN - 743,000 viewers
MSNBC - 266,000 viewers
HLN - 213,000 viewers
CNBC - 153,000 viewers

P2+ Prime Time
FNC - 1,647,000 viewers
CNN - 1,152,000 viewers
MSNBC - 290,000 viewers
HLN - 278,000 viewers
CNBC - 141,000 viewers

25-54 Total Day
FNC - 326,000 viewers
CNN - 321,000 viewers
MSNBC - 108,000 viewers
HLN - 101,000 viewers
CNBC - 67,000 viewers

25-54 Prime Time
FNC - 402,000 viewers
CNN - 431,000 viewers
MSNBC - 105,000 viewers
HLN - 104,000 viewers
CNBC -72,000 viewers
(more…)

Johnny Dollar has the video of a rocket attack that occurred while Shepard Smith was on the air. And below is the transcript…

SMITH: Back, live now. And we have incoming at this moment. Bring the microphone down to bring Jennifer Griffin over here with us. We’re at a broadcast facility and now the air raid sirens have just gone off.

GRIFFIN: They’re calling everyone to go into a shelter right now, Shep. We were just down in Kiryat Shmona, and what’s interesting is that tonight of all nights, there were more people on the street tonight. We saw people up in their windows, they clearly were not in the shelters. And now, you hear, this is the PA system that they broadcast when there is incoming, and as you just saw, there were at least three Katyushas fired into this area.

SMITH: Before you got up here, Jennifer, and before our commercial break, we actually watched three or four different ones land three or four hundred yards from that direction and explode. But they didn’t land on any buildings. They just landed in a field, which is often the case, and then you don’t even know about them, unless you see and hear them.
(more…)

A combination of work and a temporarily inaccessible Gmail account conspired to keep me from updating the blog. Now I’m playing catchup…estrong>

At the Noon hour Michael Smerconish was supposed to anchor MSNBC Live. Instead it was Lester Holt.

U.S. News & World Report’s Washington Whipsers column has a mini profile of On The Record’s Greta Van Susteren by Paul Bedard…

Greta Van Susteren, the No. 1 woman on cable TV by a mile, thinks she’s found the answer to what audiences want. Give it to them straight, and junk the ‘tude. “I think the news has changed,” says the host of Fox News Channel’s top-rated On the Record. “I think people no longer want to listen so much to us reporting.” So, rejecting artsy shots of her interviewing newsmakers, the Washington-based Van Susteren takes just one camera on location. “Shoot the story,” she tells her crew. “Don’t shoot me.”

Broadcasting & Cable’s Anne Becker writes about CNN’s The Week At War show announcement but also features comments from Jonathan Klein…

Making the announcements today at CNN’s Television Critics Association Press tour presentation in Pasadena, CNN/U.S. President Jonathan Klein told critics that CNN was delivering on three objectives it set last year for 2006: Gain momentum coming out of Larry King at 10 p.m., increase its morning news share with American Morning, and refresh its approach to covering politics with The Situation Room.

“I’m happy to say that by sticking to the substance mantra, by making news our gimmick, all three of those goals are being attained,” he said.

Here is a Q2 2005/Q2 2006 comparison of Total Viewers in the morning with market share in parentheses
(more…)

FNC was the first network to go heavy on the Shuttle Landing with Jon Scott and Martha McCallum well before the 9 am hour. CNN went heavy shortly before the 9am hour with Miles O’Brien. MSNBC started around the 9am hour with Lester Holt…

MSN TV’s Paul Semel has a list of the best and worst anchors on TV which is going to draw criticism. Of the cable channels, Chuck Roberts made the best list. I can’t take any worst list seriously that includes The Simpsons’ Kent Brockman…

Why We Don’t Like Him: Because whether he’s pledging his allegiance to what he thinks are invading alien ants (”I’d like to remind them that as a trusted TV personality, I can be helpful in rounding up others to toil in their underground sugar caves.”), or just changing his name to hide his Jewish heritage (he was born Kenny Brocklestein), Kent Brockman is a total sell out.

TVWeek’s Michelle Greppi reports that Tucker’s “Beat The Press” segment has been copywrighted by Emily Rooney, daughter of 60 minutes curmudgeon Andy Rooney…

Since 1997, Ms. Rooney has been doing award-winning media criticism under the title “Beat the Press” as part of the Friday night editions of “Greater Boston,” a weeknight magazine show she executive produces for pubcaster WGBH-TV. Last Friday night she took aim at Mr. Carlson and his new segment: “Carlson’s producer says they’ve never heard of our show,” Ms. Rooney said in the piece taped for broadcast. “Fair enough. But have they ever heard of Google?”

Break in times…

FNC 6:10:53
CNN 6:37:17
MSNBC 6:56:42

The mystery of the NBC News Channel URL has been solved. It has nothing to do with MSBNC. It’s a feed URL for NBC affiliates. And it’s going live today. Only affiliates will be able to access this site and only from inside their stations.

Newsday’s Verne Gay writes about MSNBC’s 10th Anniversary in the context of Dan Abrams taking over as GM of the network. Where’d they get that picture? (via TVNewser. I don’t know how I missed it.)

Yes, Griffin adds, the appointment was a “shocker, but he understands the place.”

And that understanding may be Abrams’ key attribute. The cable industry has known for years that MSNBC has suffered from an acute case of management dysfunction, and, while poor ratings may have been the cause of that, there’s widespread belief that the dysfunction helped drive away viewers.

How so? Because constant criticism - and interference - from the impatient bosses at NBC headquarters in Manhattan led to constant scheduling adjustments, particularly in the early years. Dazed and confused viewers went elsewhere - like Fox News Channel, which will mark its 10th anniversary in October.

“We’ve been through a lot of people over the years,” says Olbermann grimly, “and to be fair, the problem became evident from the beginning with the [management] structure.” He - and others, too - blames “personal frictions” and “muddled lines of authority” that ultimately lead to half-baked or panicked programming moves.

Brian Williams was originally scheduled to anchor coverage of the landing of Shuttle Discovery Monday. However with Williams heading to the Middle East, Lester Holt will now be anchoring the coverage. The coverage will be produced out of MSNBC for both it and NBC, though it’s not clear at this time whether Holt will be in MSNBC’s studios or at NBC’s studios in Manhattan.