Huge night for O’Reilly on Friday considering there was no special guest scheduled that evening…

Daily Live+SD Ratings for January 4, 2008

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Looks like Frank Luntz has been re-using panel members in his focus groups, at least one to be sure. Hot Air.com weighs in here…

Here is FNC’s coverage plans for the New Hampshire Primary tomorrow…

9:00am – 11:00am ET – America’s Newsroom (Hemmer reporting from New Hampshire)
2:00pm – 4:00pm ET – Studio B – You Decide 2008 with Shepard Smith
4:00pm – 6:00pm ET – You Decide 2008 – Special with Chris Wallace
6:00pm – 7:00pm ET – Special Report with Brit Hume
7:00pm – 8:00pm ET – FOX Report with Shepard Smith
8:00pm – 10:00pm ET – You Decide 2008 – New Hampshire Primary Coverage
10:00pm – 11:00pm ET – Hannity & Colmes, live from New Hampshire
11:00pm – 1:00am ET – You Decide 2008 – Extended primary coverage anchored by Shepard Smith and Greta Van Susteren

During CNN’s Newsroom today, Zain Verjee reported from Kenya; the country she was born in, on the fall-out from the elections there. Transcript follows…

PHILLIPS: All right. Encouraging news out of Kenya now. With a U.S. envoy feverishly working to calm post-election violence, Kenya’s president has invited the country’s opposition leader to talks this Friday. Earlier, the opposition canceled planned nationwide rallies in an apparent effort to discourage further chaos.

The government now says the violence has claimed nearly 500 lives.
It appears to have slowed since Saturday, but reports of death still are coming in from the countryside. CNN’s Zain Verjee, a native of Kenya, has an up close look at what has been happening.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ZAIN VERJEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You can see some of the destruction in the post election violence there in the petrol station. We’re just actually heading to an area where people have just left their homes and they’ve gathered there for security.
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MSNBC’s coverage plans for the New Hampshire Primary…

Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann will anchor MSNBC’s live coverage of the New Hampshire presidential primary Tuesday, Jan. 8, 6 p.m.-1 a.m. MSNBC’s live primary coverage kicks off with a special edition of “Hardball with Chris Matthews” at 5 p.m. ET.

MSNBC’s New Hampshire coverage will include “Morning Joe,” live from New Hampshire, reports throughout the day from MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough, Mika Brzezinski, David Shuster and Tucker Carlson on the ground in New Hampshire and reports from NBC News correspondents Ron Allen, Kevin Corke, Lee Cowan, David Gregory, Andrea Mitchell, Kelly O’Donnell and John Yang. Olbermann and Matthews will anchor live coverage of primary returns from MSNBC Election Headquarters in New York beginning at 6 p.m. ET, with NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams and “Meet the Press” moderator and NBC News Washington bureau chief Tim Russert contributing from New Hampshire and panelists including Scarborough, Newsweek’s Howard Fineman, Eugene Robinson, of the Washington Post, Katrina vanden Heuvel of The Nation, MSNBC analyst Pat Buchanan and Rachel Maddow of Air America. Former NBC Nightly News anchor Tom Brokaw will also appear to provide analysis. MSNBC Chief Washington Correspondent Norah O’Donnell will provide analysis of the latest exit polls and early returns.

Silicon Alley Insider’s Dan Frommer reacts to the CNBC/NYT deal…

A good deal for CNBC, at least, whose Web site is almost as sad as Fox Business Network’s viewership.

As does 1440 Wall Street…

Although they claim the deal is not specifically aimed at blunting the combined efforts of FOX Business and the Wall Street Journal, who should begin to cement ties in the years ahead, the claim is hardly credible.

This war of attrition is just beginning, and CNBC’s influence can only go down as Rupert Murdoch starts his siege of Fort Lee. As shareholders at the Times could attest, this could get ugly.

If Murdoch started a siege of Fort Lee, CNBC would probably be very happy…seeing as they’re located in Englewood Cliffs now…

Beet.TV scoops under an “Exclusive” banner that MSNBC.com’s ebedding of video is going to begin on Wednesday (via Silicon Alley Insider)

Wednesday will mark a milestone in broadcast journalism and in video on the Web as msnbc.com will offer clips from NBC Nightly News and other NBC news programs as sharable embed codes, Beet.TV has learned.

Update: Wrong. It went live today.

FishbowlDC notes that the FNC embeds have their own campaign blog…

I missed this Friday. Multichannel News interviews FBN’s Kevin Magee…

Those numbers, Nielsen Media Research data estimates obtained by Multichannel News for the service since its debut on Oct. 15 through Dec. 16, were dwarfed by incumbent CNBC. The financial news sector leader averaged 284,000 viewers weekdays from 5 a.m. to 7 p.m. and 238,000 weeknights from 8-11 p.m. over the same span, according to Nielsen.

But the differential during FBN’s incipience doesn’t worry Fox News executive vice president Kevin Magee. “This isn’t surprising because it’s so early,” he said. “We’re well within our expectations.”

CNN announced its New Hampshire primary coverage plans…

CNN will employ its extensive resources and political expertise for incisive and expansive coverage of New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primary on Tuesday, Jan. 8. From the new CNN Election Center in New York and from around the state of New Hampshire, lead political anchor Wolf Blitzer and CNN’s political team will guide the network’s special coverage.

CNN’s special programming will begin at 8 p.m. (ET)—following wall-to-wall politics on The Situation Room and Lou Dobbs Tonight—and run late into the night. The coverage will lead into a special edition of Larry King Live at midnight (ET) hosted by Larry King and featuring analysis and insight into the election results.
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Ron Paul supporters chased Sean Hannity in New Hampshire…(via The News Buckit)

CNBC’s release on the NYT deal…

CNBC and The New York Times today announced a digital content sharing agreement in the areas of business and technology, including finance, economics, money management and personal finance, effective immediately. The collaboration will further broaden the reach of each organization’s high-quality newsgathering to viewers, readers and users of the two Web sites, CNBC.com and NYTimes.com. The agreement represents the first time The New York Times has collaborated with CNBC.

Under the agreement CNBC will provide content and multimedia features from CNBC.com to NYTimes.com and The New York Times will provide print and online coverage from the newspaper and its Web site to CNBC.com. Each site will establish direct links to the other’s site.

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Mediapost’s Joe Mandese writes about the latest wrinkle Nielsen is adding to its system…

In that latter initiative, Nielsen said it will revise the algorithms it uses to weight national ratings beginning in September 2008, and that the revision would likely have an effect on both program and average commercial minute audience estimates. It was not clear at press time whether the enhanced weighting process has been audited or accredited by the Media Rating Council.

Bloomberg TV announced its New Hampshire coverage plans…

Anchor Peter Cook will lead BLOOMBERG TELEVISION’s®, Business & the Ballot coverage from Manchester, New Hampshire. Live editions of ‘Money & Politics’ at 7pm ET on Monday, and at 7pm and 9pm ET on Tuesday . Correspondent Lizzie O’Leary will be reporting throughout the day. BLOOMBERG TELEVISION® will get on-air analysis from two veterans of the 2004 campaign, Kerry communications director Stephanie Cutter and Bush campaign press secretary Terry Holt. We’ll also talk to business leaders and elected officials about politics and the New Hampshire economy.

Guests throughout BLOOMBERG TELEVISION’s two days of coverage in New Hampshire will include presidential candidates Bill Richardson and Ron Paul, campaign advisers Terry McAuliffe and Steve Forbes and local officials including New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch and Senator Judd Gregg.

CNBC President Mark Hoffman’s internal memo to staff on the New York Times deal…

I’m sure many of you saw the news this morning on “Worldwide Exchange” and “Squawk Box” and published this morning in the New York Times of an exciting digital news sharing agreement between CNBC.com and NYTimes.com. This agreement represents the first time CNBC has collaborated with the New York Times.

We’ll provide content and multimedia features from CNBC.com to NYTimes.com and the New York Times will supply print and online coverage from the newspaper and its web site to CNBC.com.

This agreement brings together two leading news organizations offering more original content and coverage to our audience. Below is the News Release that will go out shortly.

Thanks to everyone involved for all their hard work in making this agreement possible.

TVWeek’s Jon Lafayette writes about CNN’s election sponsors and interviews Greg D’Alba; VP and COO of CNN Advertising Sales at CNN…

He said he’s seeing demand from other advertisers looking to push their image advertising during election coverage.

And, for the first time, he’s expecting CNN to start to see a significant amount of national advertising dollars from some of the presidential candidates as the field narrows. Mr. D’Alba is basing his expectation on discussions with ad buyers who are indicating that a portion of the massive amount of money the candidates have raised will come into national media, such as CNN.

Mr. D’Alba said this year’s election is different because of the prevalence of digital media, which has allowed CNN to accommodate more full sponsors than a year ago.

Digital media also has increased the reach of CNN content beyond its cable channel.

“That’s why we’re doing so well and making more money across categories. Marketers view reach as essential to increase their market share,” he said.

The Houston Chronicle’s David Barron interviews Shepard Smith…

He envisions his show as steering a middle course in a news climate where, he said, “It’s Aggies and Longhorns. That’s how life has become. We are a polarized bunch. Whatever flavor you want, it’s available in massive quanities in various locations. Guys like Bill O’Reilly have their thing, and Sean Hannity has his thing.

“But when it comes to the news, people aren’t doing that on cable any more. If there’s another newscast on cable, I don’t know what it is. But we are a newscast. When we come on the air at 6 o’clock in Texas, it’s just the news.”

He does not, however, shy away from gadgets such as “Daily Britney,” a regular update on the activities of Ms. Spears.

“We are a business,” he said. “We need people to watch, and I don’t mind doing a little whizbang if it keeps you watching for the things that I think are important that we talk about every day.

“Maybe we don’t take ourselves as seriously. We need to get the news on the air. Otherwise, Britney is OK. If it will bring a young viewer to learn more about the world, I’m all for it.”

The Kansas City Star’s Aaron Barnhart interviews Keith Olbermann…

Olbermann chose a room looking directly into the street-front studios of MSNBC’s rival, Fox News. If you’re walking up Sixth Avenue, look for the huge cardboard cut-out of Bill O’Reilly’s head gazing out of a third-floor window in the world headquarters of the National Broadcasting Co.

Rare is the night when “Countdown With Keith Olbermann,” MSNBC’s highest-rated program, doesn’t take aim at something said on “Fox Noise” or “Fixed News,” Olbermann’s pet names for the channel. He has more ways of describing O’Reilly than baseball announcers have home-run calls. Bill-O. Bill Orally. Bill “Oh Really?” Falafel Guy. The Frank Burns of news. And so on.

But when I asked Olbermann about being able to peer into the glassy soul of the enemy, he said the point was not inspiration but caution.

“The reason my computer faces out that window is not for me to stare and think, ‘What am I going to do to him next?’ ” he said. “It’s to remember the lessons learned in that building.”

To Olbermann, Fox News is an object lesson in how not to handle success. To an observer familiar with Olbermann’s career missteps, he seems determined not to repeat them as his star rises again.

The Huffington Post’s Amanda Christine Miller interviews Wolf Blitzer…

Has anyone ever said anything negative to you about your beard?

Some people did say some negative things, especially when it started to go grey: “Lose it!” “It’s making you look old!” And I remember at one point — I think it was the 1996 presidential convention in San Diego when I was the White House correspondent — my beard was really beginning to change colors, and I saw the president of CNN, Tom Johnson. We were walking from one event to another and I said “Tom, I’m seriously thinking of shaving off my beard. What do you think?” And he looked at me as if I was crazy and he said, “Shaving off your beard? Are you crazy? I’m thinking of taking an insurance policy out on it!” He obviously saw that it had developed as part of my look and style, and our viewers had come to recognize it. It became part of my brand.

The New York Times’ Richard Perez Pena writes about a new content sharing deal between CNBC and his own paper…

CNBC and The New York Times have agreed to share material on their Web sites, uniting the main competitive targets of the News Corporation’s new ventures, the Fox Business Network and The Wall Street Journal.

The deal, which takes effect Monday, will mostly involve posting Times articles and other written material on CNBC’s site, and CNBC video on the Times site, the two companies said. No money will change hands.

“We have agreed to be each other’s primary partners on the Web, which will strengthen both,” said Vivian Schiller, senior vice president and general manager of nytimes.com