Hardball on NBC affiliates…
This morning Lloyd Siegel, NBC News’ VP of News Partnerships sent out an email to NBC affiliates announcing that MSNBC’s Hardball with Chris Matthews was going to be made available to affiliates who wanted to carry it at 7pm ET on Election Eve.
From: Siegel, Lloyd
Sent: Monday, October 23, 2006
Subject: Decision 2006 Update 10.23.2006HARDBALL IN PRIME ACCESS: If you are interested in starting your national political coverage on election eve, a special 30-minute version of Hardball with Chris Matthews will be available for use on your station at 7 pm ET in prime access on Monday, November 6th.
It’ s actually Hardball’s first half-hour, but Chris will conclude it with a hiccup on the order of “Some of our viewers on NBC stations across the country are leaving us now, but Hardball will continue in a moment on MSNBC.” The programming available to stations will include two three-minute breaks and a three-minute end break at 7:27:00, which will provide nine minutes of commercial inventory for local use.
Ah, so it begins - the official blending of MSNBC and NBC.
But why with Chris Matthews?
This will chase conservative viewers away.
The appearance of Tim Russert and Brian Williams on MSNBC has been appealing and strengthening to MSNBC. But IMO this is not a good choice.
Comment by cella — October 23, 2006 @ 6:42 pm