CNN Radio will be doing a longform program called “The Road to Retirement” with Ali Velshi…

CNN Radio offers listeners sound advice on getting ready financially for life after work in its latest long-form program, “Road to Retirement: Getting on Track.” Hosted by CNN senior business correspondent Ali Velshi, “Road to Retirement” will be available on Friday, Feb. 23, and will be produced by CNN Radio supervising producer Sherri Maksin.

“From the day we enter the working world, we put ourselves on a pathway to retirement,” said Jerry DeMink, vice president of CNN News Services. “With this program, Ali and our guests examine the strategies our listeners should consider at various stages of their lives, making it clear that it’s never too early or too late to think to think about retirement.”
(more…)

CNN.com has set up a section called “Inside the Envelope” where people can guess who’s going to win Academy Awards and possibly win a home theater system…

With less than a week to go before Oscar night, CNN.com offers film award prognosticators registered with the Web site a chance to guess the contents of the celebrated Academy Award® envelopes. Through the online game “Inside the Envelope,” users pick winners from this year’s nominees to earn a chance to win a home theater system including a 42-inch high-definition, plasma, flat-screen television set and a one-year subscription to Netflix.

“Inside the Envelope” is part of CNN.com’s in-depth coverage of the Academy Awards®. The contest site, located at www.CNN.com/ITE, will be open for entry submissions until 5 p.m. (ET) on Sunday, Feb. 25, the day of the show’s broadcast. “Academy Awards” and “Oscars” are registered trademarks of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (A.M.P.A.S.).
(more…)

With an article title guaranteed to send these guys into a tizzy, Rolling Stone’s Mark Binelli interviews Keith Olbermann…

Olbermann clearly relishes his feuds and doesn’t seem to worry much about sparking new ones. When I ask him why he thinks Katie Couric’s stint as CBS anchor isn’t working, he shoots back, “It’s simple. She’s not good at it.” (Asked if he’d take the gig himself, he says, “Of course. But I don’t think they’d ask me.” A few weeks later, MSNBC extended his contract for another four years and announced that he will contribute reports to NBC Nightly News.)

Last June, the Daily News printed e-mail exchanges between Olbermann and hostile viewers. The host advised one correspondent to “go fuck your mother” and another to “kill yourself.” He also told a fan that fellow MSNBC host Rita Cosby was “nice but dumber than a suitcase of rocks.” Though the e-mails were meant to embarrass Olbermann, they only served to underline what people already know and like about him. It’s hard to imagine Tom Brokaw even bothering to respond to an e-mail critic, let alone writing “you couldn’t be stupider, wronger or dumber,” but Olbermann’s status as a loose cannon is a large part of his appeal, and the sizable ego he brings to the table makes him the perfect foil for the likes of O’Reilly.

There’s also a companion piece, “The Top Five Rants of Keith Olbermann” with YouTube video of each rant…

On The Record had another big night with 1.8 million viewers.

Cable News Daily Ratings for February 21, 2007

P2+ Total Day
FNC – 971,000 viewers
CNN – 495,000 viewers
MSNBC – 486,000 viewers
CNBC – 170,000 viewers
HLN – 383,000 viewers

P2+ Prime Time
FNC – 1,909,000 viewers
CNN – 899,000 viewers
MSNBC – 515,000 viewers
CNBC – 190,000 viewers
HLN – 661,000 viewers

25-54 Total Day
FNC – 293,000 viewers
CNN – 167,000 viewers
MSNBC – 174,000 viewers
CNBC – 75,000 viewers
HLN – 147,000 viewers

25-54 Prime Time
FNC – 475,000 viewers
CNN – 297,000 viewers
MSNBC – 202,000 viewers
CNBC – 120,000 viewers
HLN – 226,000 viewers

Morning programs P2+ (25-54)
FOX & Friends – 844,000 viewers (313,000)
American Morning – 378,000 viewers (141,000)
Imus in the Morning– 281,000 viewers (100,000)
Robin & Co. – 239,000 viewers (125,000)
(more…)

On the Record with Greta Van Susteren had the highest Demo number last night. It was big enough that it beat AC 360’s Total Viewer number (360 had Roberts and Chetry filling in). MSNBC came in 4th behind HLN in the Primetime Demo.

Cable News Daily Ratings for February 20, 2007

P2+ Total Day
FNC – 958,000 viewers
CNN – 475,000 viewers
MSNBC – 429,000 viewers
CNBC – 234,000 viewers
HLN – 304,000 viewers

P2+ Prime Time
FNC – 1,813,000 viewers
CNN – 821,000 viewers
MSNBC – 514,000 viewers
CNBC – 330,000 viewers
HLN – 513,000 viewers

25-54 Total Day
FNC – 301,000 viewers
CNN – 169,000 viewers
MSNBC – 153,000 viewers
CNBC – 85,000 viewers
HLN – 123,000 viewers

25-54 Prime Time
FNC – 504,000 viewers
CNN – 236,000 viewers
MSNBC – 184,000 viewers
CNBC – 96,000 viewers
HLN – 220,000 viewers
(more…)

Over the past few months ICN has been keeping tabs on an odd development regarding cable news delivery in the New York City area. During that time ICN received several queries from befuddled readers and/or MSNBC viewers who wanted or were being forced to switch to Verizon FiOS but only found MSNBC available via Cablevision. Verizon, for example, has rolled out FiOS for every major cable news channel (FNC, CNN, HLN, CNBC, etc..) with one notable exception, MSNBC, in New Jersey and Long Island.

ICN has heard from several individuals in and out of the “industry” that Cablevision holds an exclusive carriage agreement with MSNBC. All other potential MSNBC providers, like Verizon, are therefore frozen out in areas where Cablevision operates. It is not known how or why Cablevision got an exclusive carriage deal for MSNBC but not other NBCU properties or why NBCU would even grant Cablevision an exclusive on MSNBC and MSNBC alone. This is a real head scratcher. Lots of unanswered questions. How long does Cablevision have the exclusive? Why did this happen? The bottom line is if you want MSNBC on Verizon FiOS in any area Cablevision operates, you’re out of luck.

UPDATE: Went back and clarified what was going on as I had introduced ambiguity into the story.

ICN got tipped off this morning by an astute reader that Chris Knowles’ bio is gone from the Fox News website. I checked and it’s not there. Knowles is the husband of former FNC, now CNN anchor Kiran Chetry.

UPDATE: An FNC source has told ICN that the network has parted amicably with Knowles.

WHAC has the transcript where Larry King calls John King and Kiran Chetry “Dymanic Duo”. Not to be confused with the new Huntley and Brinkley, of course…

And we invite you to stay tuned now for “AC 360,” co-hosted tonight by Kiran Chetry and John King. And I believe they are both standing by. There they are! They have a new name now, the dynamic duo. John King and Kiran Chetry. It sounds sort of like a food. No, Chetry, sounds like a jelly. I like the name! OK, whatever. John, Kiran, go

TV Guide’s Stephen Battaglio interviews Keith Olbermann. Interesting angle on the Live vs. Live+ SD debate. Is MSNBC selling via Live+ SD now?

TVGuide.com: A growing number of people are upset and aggravated about the war in Iraq. Do you think viewers see Countdown as a place they can get news about the war that is a little more attuned to their sentiments?

Olbermann: I don’t know the exact mix. Clearly in the last year and a half, the people to whom I’m beholden are George Bush, Bill O’Reilly, Dan Patrick and people at Nielsen who decided to include DVR ratings in cable TV ratings. We’re the most DVR’d show in cable news. We had growth from that. But in terms of the sensibility regarding the war, I think the public is still ahead of us, slightly, and way ahead of the politicians. But from the beginning on May 1, 2003, I interviewed Chris Matthews right after the whole “Mission Accomplished” nonsense, and he was fulsome about it and portrayed it fairly correctly in what it would be perceived as.… I said, “Wait a minute. Long-term? What about the fact that you have this country that doesn’t have a government right now and we have no real post-war plan in our pocket. Is this premature?” This has been a steady attitude. It’s obviously gotten louder, and what a fatal boondoggle it’s been. It’s been an ever-increasing element of the show, and it culminated last year with “Special Comments.” [Olbermann’s occasional commentaries on the show.]

FTVLive writes about the fallout going on over at William Morris over the way things went down with FNC over the Kiran Chetry deal…