What’s hot/What’s not: 12/2/07
What’s hot:
New budget cuts coming to NBC News - Late Friday, ICN broke the news of budget cut meetings taking place at 30 Rock with an eye on Operational cuts. Though the cuts being looked at likely extend beyond operational…
CNBC wants to know what you think of FBN talent - Screen grabs from a CNBC Exchange viewer survey asking viewers to rate CNBC and FBN business talent leaked out. It didn’t take long for commenters to use that “Not concerned” quip against the network. Again.
CNN’s YouTube Debate controversy - The controversy over Keith Kerr’s question and his ties to the Hillary Clinton campaign overshadowed the news of the YouTube debate generating the highest primary debate ratings ever.
Chavez vs. CNN - A graphical error on CNN International was seized upon by Hugo Chavez to beat the network over the head with. It was typical Chavez. The surprising aspect was the way CNN took Chavez so seriously when I think they should have just reported it as a mistake, apologized, and then dropped the matter.
FNC debuts new election vehicles - FNC took the wraps of its two Election Link vehicles and has been using them a lot since then.
What’s not:
Sparks fly at MSNBC - During a commercial break set changeover, a short occurred, sparks flew, and smoke appeared in the desk on the MSNBC set Saturday, which rendered the main set unusuable for the rest of Saturday’s news broadcast. Sunday saw the Morning Joe desk in its place while the regular desk was being repaired.
Carl Cameron - The FNC correspondent reported someone else’s name as the suspect as the hostage taker at the Clinton NH Campaign HQ.
Bill O’Reilly interviews Alf - Why?
CNN doing cumulative advertising - This is a reader nomination and not verified by me. CNN is now using ads stating that 10 million people watched the debate. Again, the ratings for the original airing was 4.2 million, so CNN must have added all the viewers who watched all the versions of the debate. They may be technically accurate but it’s not typical behavior to add all the viewers from all the programs for an ad.
Just a comment - FBN is so new and is seen on so few outlets that it’s unbelievable that people are trashing it already. What is their problem?
Comment by Missy — December 2, 2007 @ 11:22 pm
Come on Spud… I was first to use that “‘Not concerned’ quip” as you said. A little credit. Nothing much… maybe a t-shirt, and a chance to make a short speech. No? I’m trying to stay humble.
Comment by ImNotBlue — December 3, 2007 @ 12:40 am
Keep working at it…
Comment by Spud — December 3, 2007 @ 1:59 am
Actually Spud, though I hate it, I think cumulative advertising is used a lot more than you think. You see this a lot with new shows on network television. I remember seeing a commercial for a show that had a about 14 million people watch the premiere. Somehow they said 80 million people had discovered that show. I think they were even adding up weeks of episodes.
Secondly, if it so acceptable for BOR to add in all his repeats to his numbers, than why isnt it acceptable for CNN to do that? (personally, i hate both)
Comment by randy — December 3, 2007 @ 4:00 am
I think you’ve got that backwards. If it’s not acceptable for Bill O to do it why is it acceptable for CNN?
Comment by Spud — December 3, 2007 @ 11:13 am
Touche. Well played, Spud. Well played.
Comment by bigred — December 3, 2007 @ 11:32 am
Why can’t BO add his 11pm numbers to his 8pm LSD numbers?
And why are LSD numbers only relevant at 8pm?
Comment by Jim — December 3, 2007 @ 12:00 pm
Spud: Do you place these items in any order? The CNN/You Tube GOP debate debacle was the No.1 story of the week by far.
Comment by Ira — December 3, 2007 @ 1:05 pm
If they were in order they’d have numbers in front of them. But, regardless of that, if I were to rank them in terms of importance the CNN debate wouldn’t be the #1 story of the week by far because in six months time nobody’s going to give a shit about what happened last week.
Meanwhile over at NBC in six months time they’ll still be dealing with the fallout of the budget cuts being talked about last week.
Get my drift…?
Comment by Spud — December 3, 2007 @ 4:49 pm
Couldn’t you watch the debate on CNN and HLN and on Youtube? Maybe that is where CNN got that number from.
Comment by Aaron — December 3, 2007 @ 7:12 pm
Regarding Bill O’Reilly counting all 3 of his showings when he relates how many watched his program “last night”:
Which way do you want it, folks?
The current trend is to count personally recorded programs and count viewing them in the total, the LSD concept. I disagree with the idea that it is fair to count personally recorded shows but not shows recorded by a network is absurd…and, of course, the position of Keith Olbermann.
Comment by Missouri Show Me — December 3, 2007 @ 9:41 pm
As written, my post above (#11), contains an improper double negative. I meant that it is absurd to count personally recorded shows and not network rebroadcasts.
Comment by Missouri Show Me — December 3, 2007 @ 9:44 pm
I guess it wouldn’t be fair to add the 11pm number to the 8pm LSD numbers because you *know* people are watching and not just punching the delete button the next morning.
Comment by Jim — December 4, 2007 @ 4:27 am
Alf was engaged in a battle wits with Bill. The furry guy came out on top. Bill’s arsenal was only “half” loaded.
Comment by Roger C. — December 4, 2007 @ 1:23 pm