MSNBC to drop Saturday afternoon newscasts…
Starting this weekend, MSNBC will drop its 12-4 newscast on Saturdays in favor of taped programming. There was a rumor circulating that was just a test run but that is apparently not the case. I hear it’s long term.
The network had originally added the 12-4pm shift with Contessa Brewer back at the end of 2005. The network dropped its Sunday 12-4 newscast due to ratings last December. When Norah O’Donnell went on maternity leave and Alison Stewart left the network and The Most was cancelled, Brewer was moved to M-Fr daytime and a group of subs anchored the Saturday afternoon newscast. Now that too is going away. Again, apparently, ratings are the issue.
MSNBC would point out that it is ready to handle any breaking news that should happen and cut in if necessary as they did last Saturday when it reported the discovery of Jessie Davis’ body. But the fact remains that MSNBC’s competition will have regularly scheduled live newscasts throughout various periods in the afternoon and evening and MSNBC won’t.
How was MSNBC first to break the news that Jessie Davis’ body was recovered? FOX and CNN carried the presser LIVE, so it was announced at the same time, MSNBC didn’t break into programming and waited until their scheduled 30 second cutin to break the news… anything that they reported before 6pm was strictly speculation since FACTS were not made public until the presser, that MSNBC did not bother to cover…
Comment by Nobody — June 29, 2007 @ 12:56 am
The presser was at 6. MSNBC announced at 5:10.
http://insidecable.blogsome.com/2007/06/24/jessie-davis-body-discovered/
I had heard that MSNBC was first. If I’m in error, I’ll correct it.
Comment by Spud — June 29, 2007 @ 1:04 am
if msnbc wants to be taken seriously as a cable news channel, they need to have a live show at 10pm each night. then they need to get rid of the 4pm and 5pm shows and replace them with something else. (its stupid to air the same show twice in the same afternoon.) they also need to have live news all day saturday and sunday. how hard is it to have someone anchor the news during the weekend? come on.
Comment by Chris (My Two Sense) — June 29, 2007 @ 2:33 am
It takes more of a staff than just one anchor… you need producers, directors, camera operators, editors, graphics people, etc.
Having said that, this ain’t small market television. It’s NBC. If they truly want to compete, they can’t just concede on the weekends, but it looks like that’s what they’re doing.
Comment by bigred — June 29, 2007 @ 3:25 am
I’m disappointed to say the least. MSNBC becomes more and more irrelevant.
Comment by Goldfish — June 29, 2007 @ 5:43 am
does anyone think the recent MSNBC slide has anything to do with the collateral damage of the Imus firing?
Comment by cas — June 29, 2007 @ 6:48 am
I wish MSNBC would quit even trying to act like they’re a “news” channel! All they are anymore is a “taped programming” channel! All they do are those god-awful docmentaries–mostly about prison life!
Comment by Caty — June 29, 2007 @ 7:12 am
Imus is one thing. And it is certainly related. But the whole NBC-Universal reshuffling, GE failing to keep Murdoch from gobbling up WSJ… etc., is the crux of this issue. But I thought this was all explained months ago with the downsizing announcements.
I’ll miss the News Bunnies, but lately I’ve been getting my rocks off on the flirtatious interplay between Anderson Cooper and Erica Hill (she’s such a naughty tease).
Fox’s Red-Eye gives me pause. Maybe MSNBC could work on some overnight programming.
Comment by kevbo — June 29, 2007 @ 8:51 am
Maybe they’ll do “Best of Imus” re-runs?
Comment by Bill — June 29, 2007 @ 9:18 am
So is this the big changes many of you have been refering too ???
A few weeks ago a spokesman told us to stay tuned “pretty soon there will be a lot to talk about”.
Good one
You bet there will be MORE CHANGES coming. The sharks are circling.
None will be good………
Anyone see Wes Clark lately ??????????????????????
Posted by Hmmm - June 29, 2007 @ 9:53 am
Comment by Hmmm — June 29, 2007 @ 9:53 am
just finished listening to WFAN streaming..Mike and the Mad Dog and Charles McCord VERY strongly hinted the Iman may return in September….perhaps only on WFAN in NY..but it can be streamed….as Francesa said, “hopefully, when we all return in September…we’ll be a TOTAL family once again.” Charles said, “what you see in the mirror looks closer than you think.” strong hints….and a 4-hr. love fest to the Iman.
Comment by cas — June 29, 2007 @ 9:54 am
OMG - MSNBC has had such a reputation of “not being there” on weekends that I didn’t even know they had a 12 p.m. - 4 p.m. broadcast on Saturdays! I guess I won’t miss it then.
Comment by Missy — June 29, 2007 @ 10:10 am
Not buying it Missy. You read this blog so you knew because I mentioned it. But you make a good point about the reputation thing. It’s an issue I’ve dinged them for before…
Comment by Spud — June 29, 2007 @ 10:48 am
Where ever I-man goes, I will go. Great if he comes back in Sept. I hope Bernard will be back also.
Comment by Cathy — June 29, 2007 @ 10:53 am
Evidently just this morning Msnbc didn’t or COULDN”T breaking away from TAPED programing of yesterday’s Illegal Amnesty defeat.
Fox and Cnn all went live around 5 am this morning to cover the London terror plot, according to a blog.
But Msnbc stayed with TAPE. Guess it was a piece of tape probably saying this was a major defeat to bush, otherwise they would be all over the terror plot.
RIGHT ???????????
Posted by Hmmm - June 29, 2007 @ 11:20 am
Comment by Hmmm — June 29, 2007 @ 11:20 am
Spud, I’m not saying that you didn’t report it, it’s just that I didn’t know, or remember reading it about their Saturday news schedule. I guess I am so used to NOT watching them on weekends that I did not realize they actually had news on at that time. And it’s equally surprising to see that news was just scheduled on Saturday, and not Sunday?
Comment by Missy — June 29, 2007 @ 11:23 am
Chris: I suspect that once Scarborough is permanently named to the “Morning Joe,” which now seems more likely, there also won’t be any 9pm ET live news show on MSNBC.
Comment by Ira — June 29, 2007 @ 12:21 pm
MSNBC was non-existent on the London attack being foiled this morning. I never ONCE saw them cut in to even mention it. Now to be fair CNN U.S. was simulcasting CNN International and FNC was simulcasting Sky News, but couldn’t MSNBC simulcast ITV? It’s kind of ridiculous.
Comment by Brent — June 29, 2007 @ 12:28 pm
No Brent, because according to MSNBC’s “big star”, the not in 2nd place Olbermann, this was another case of a bunch of morons who weren’t really a threat to anyone.
Because there isn’t really a terror threat out there, according to Olbermoron, Michael Moore, the libs… He will cover it tonight by saying it was a plot to deflect attention away from the “White House in Crisis”.
Comment by bigred — June 29, 2007 @ 12:56 pm
For business, its all about cash flow. Taking Imus out of the mix reduces MSNBCs revenue; choking cash flow required to fund channel operations. Predict continued retreats, withdrawals and expense cuts.
Comment by channelXRFR — June 29, 2007 @ 1:49 pm
oh please ‘bigred’ is it possible for you to actually discuss news coverage on this blog without resorting to the old ‘evil liberals, Olbermoron etc etc etc. you just totally lower the tone around this place.
As for MSNBC, i cannot say i am surprised they’ve dropped the afternoon block, it was coming since they discontinued Sunday afternoons. I’ve always wondered why they don’t split up their live news hours like Fox do as opposed to having one solid block.
Comment by Mr A — June 29, 2007 @ 1:58 pm
Mr A, everytime there’s a terrorist plot foiled, Olbermann goes on his show and claims:
1. The alleged terrorists were morons and they had no chance of pulling this off
2. This isn’t that big of a deal.
3. This was concocted by the Bush administration to deflect their problems.
It is Olbermann who lowers the bar, substantially, in news coverage and journalism. Wanna place a bet on how he covers this story tonight? He will either ignore it completely, or try to say it was done because the “White House is in crisis”.
Comment by bigred — June 29, 2007 @ 2:31 pm
“….it was coming since they discontinued Sunday afternoons….”
So are we then to assume that Monday-Friday afternoons will follow based on that logic ?
Posted by Hmmm - June 29, 2007 @ 2:59 pm
Comment by Hmmm — June 29, 2007 @ 2:59 pm
No.
Comment by Spud — June 29, 2007 @ 3:58 pm
Comcast should drop MSNBC from all its cable systems nationwide, now and put ESPNU in its place. MSNBC needs to shutdown right now.
Comment by Julius May — June 29, 2007 @ 4:44 pm
All,
This is GE’S company, if they are not going to save it, we can guess they are going to sell it? I mean if something isn’t making a profit…you unload it. The thing is you usually try and make what you want to sell, look good so you can get the most money, you can out of the sale. I don’t get GE’S business stratgey in this case. They are sliding off the cliff, this has something to do with reputation too, who is making these business decisions? I think sometimes it is better to pull the bandaid off real fast, it hurts but it gets the inevitable over quicker.
Comment by Ree — June 29, 2007 @ 5:01 pm
Don’t kid yourself 24. It’s over.
25 hit it. (I’ve said it before).
GE is gonna DUMP it, Msnbc (CNBC NBC etal). The only problem is they are putting the lipstick on the wrong end of the pig.
Posted by Hmmm - June 29, 2007 @ 5:23 p m
Comment by Hmmm — June 29, 2007 @ 5:23 pm
Taped programming is the new rage. Weekends and weekdays.
HLN scrapped o’nite news, re-runs LKL at 11am and Beck/Grace all other hours except one 12-5p, single-anchor news block.
When did news become such an advertising pariah?
Comment by steve — June 29, 2007 @ 6:01 pm
The universe for all-news - as opposed to all-talk - has shriveled. There isn’t enough carcass left for four, fully-delivered nets to divide. Time Warner is just as antsy about CNN/HLN as GE is about NBC.
Comment by steve — June 29, 2007 @ 6:25 pm
MSNBC needs too many things at this point. Scarbourough is moving to mornings opening up the 9pm slot, they need a 10pm show (FNC is live until 11 and CNN goes til Midnight). Olbermann dropped a “Rosie is a possible replacement” today on his sports show on ESPN. Maybe they can pick up Paula Zahn when she gets canned by CNN or rehire Rita Cosby.
Comment by Mark — June 29, 2007 @ 8:46 pm
And don’t forget…the times that you are talking about are Eastern Time. Wow, CNN broadcasts until 9pm Pacific Time. Big Wup! How about a west coast prime newscast at 9pm Pacific Time, summarizing the day’s national headlines. MSNBC could broadcast it from LA…It would be great for those of us on the Left Coast.
Comment by Dr T — June 30, 2007 @ 1:55 am
Mark
I got an error message when I tried to click to your homepage. I don’t think Rosie will go to MSNBC, Rosie is expensive and they say she doesn’t like long open ended commitments. I do believe that Rosie will end up back on Television somewhere?
Comment by Ree — June 30, 2007 @ 9:18 am
and on the first Saturday they plan it, look what happened.
Comment by Brent — June 30, 2007 @ 2:17 pm
ahh lets drop our news casts and play doc blocks
and oppps what happens A TERROR PLOT what a joke
msnbc is starting to become each and every day
Comment by Zak — June 30, 2007 @ 7:15 pm