Daily Live+SD Ratings for January 18, 2008

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Jenna Lee of FOX Business Network and Courtney Friel of Fox News Channel lead a spinning class last Friday for the New York Sports Clubs and Snapple’s “Saints & Spinners” charity event.

The event was a 24-hour spin-a-thon at Grand Central Terminal in New York, and Jenna and Courtney led the 4:00 PM Friday class.

PC World’s Matt Peckham takes FNC’s Martha MacCallum to task for a segment on yesterday’s Live Desk regarding the video game “Mass Effect”…\

Video Game Shows Full Nudity and Sex, Claims Fox

No, no it doesn’t, and what part of “research your story before covering it” do the big guns at Fox not get? They’re talking about Bioware’s sci-fi action-RPG Mass Effect, which depending on your in-game choices offers the possibility of viewing a brief, non-explicit, laughably indirect sex scene. Fox’s Martha MacCallum barely talks about the game or the sequence in question, saying only (and wrongly) that “you’ll see full digital nudity” and “the person who’s playing the game gets to decide exactly what’s going to happen between the two people.” In logic circles that’s called the straw man fallacy. In journalism, it’s just called sloppy.

Crave’s Will Greenwald adds his take…
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The Huffington Post’s Danny Shea and Katherine Thompson blog about MSNBC coverage of Heath Ledger’s death and something gossip reporter Courtney Hazlett said on the air. Includes video…

Hazlett remarked, “In a lot of ways, this reminds me — we’ve almost had a dress rehearsal for this with Owen Wilson.”

Wilson attempted suicide last summer, and MSNBC reported early after the news broke that pills were strewn around the bedroom where he was found.

MSNBC will carry what the network is billing as the last Republican debate in Florida before the Primary…

“NBC Nightly News” anchor Brian Williams will moderate a debate among the Republican presidential candidates Thursday, Jan. 24, 9-10:30 p.m. ET, live on MSNBC from Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Fla. Tim Russert, moderator of “Meet the Press” and NBC News Washington Bureau Chief, will join Williams in questioning the candidates. Chris Matthews will anchor post-debate analysis on MSNBC, 10:30 p.m.-12 a.m. ET.

Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former Gov. Mike Huckabee, Sen. John McCain, Rep. Ron Paul, and former Gov. Mitt Romney will participate. This will be the only Florida Republican presidential candidates debate held in 2008, coming just five days before Florida’s crucial January 29 primary. The debate is sponsored by Decision 2008: Before You Vote, a partnership of Leadership Florida, the Florida Press Association and the Florida Public Broadcasting Service.
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Griff Jenkins will be filling in on Red Eye the rest of this week while Greg Gutfeld flies to England to promote his new book…

Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney will appear in an interview Wednesday at 7am on Bloomberg TV. Romney will be discussing the crisis this week in the world’s stock markets and President Bush’s plan to stimulate the U.S. economy.

Last night’s South Carolina debate on CNN came as the #1 primary debate in cable news history in Total Viewers and what CNN termed “all key demos”.

The debate averaged 4.9 million Total Viewers and nearly 1.9 million adults in the 25-54 Demo, according to Nielsen’s Live+SD Fast Nationals.

CNN’s release on HLN’s Erica Hill joining Anderson Cooper 360 as a correspondent…

Erica Hill is joining CNN/U.S. as an anchor and as a correspondent to Anderson Cooper 360°, it was announced today by David Doss, executive producer of Anderson Cooper 360°.

Hill has served as an anchor at Headline News since January 2003, most recently for Prime News with Erica Hill. In addition, she provided news updates for Anderson Cooper 360° since April 2005. She joins Anderson Cooper 360° full-time on Friday, Feb. 1, and will be based in New York.

“We’re delighted Erica is joining us full time,” Doss said. “She’s an exceptional journalist, a terrific broadcaster and a great addition to the AC360 team.”
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TV Decoder’s Brian Stelter blogs about the focus on business news today and the networks that cover it…

The market turmoil will be viewed as the first serious test for Fox Business. One year ago Rupert Murdoch had pledged that the network would be “more business friendly than CNBC.” The channel was introduced amid a market downturn in October.

On Monday, while United States markets were closed for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and overseas markets posted losses, Fox Business presented live programming while CNBC aired repeats. Curiously, CNBC chose not to simulcast the live coverage from its Asian or European sister networks. “[We were] the only business network that was open for business today,” a Fox host pointedly remarked during the 5 p.m. show “Happy Hour.”

Despite being dark on Monday, CNBC says it has an advantage in its nearly 20 years of experience. “This is not the first time we’ve had a market selloff,” the CNBC anchor Melissa Francis said Tuesday morning. “We’ve been through this before, we’ll get you through it again.”

Bloomberg TV will be live until 7pm ET this evening and then take their Asia feed from 7pm to midnight and theirUK feed from midnight to 5am in order to provide live coverage on the world wide market turmoil.

Slate’s Hart Seely looks at Chris Matthews’ public comments regarding some women and then launches into satire.

It’s ridiculous for Matthews to have to apologize to the women he’s interviewed. What he needs to do is treat the guys equally.

*****

To Rudy Giuliani: I love the smile. Guys, can we get a tighter shot of his face? Close in on the eyes. Oh, yeah. You’re beautiful. You’re a dreamboat. You’re America’s Mayor. I bet Judi took one look at those high beams, and, bam, you were in the sack. Am I right? Look at him! That’s a 9-1-1 smile! Dial 9-1-1, somebody! I’m having a heart attack.

CNN announced that Reza Sayah had joined the network as a correspondent based in Pakistan…

Continuing its unprecedented expansion into international newsgathering, CNN Worldwide has appointed Reza Sayah as an international correspondent based in Pakistan, it was announced today by Parisa Khosravi, senior vice president of international newsgathering.

Sayah, an investigative reporter and anchor for WXYZ/Channel 7 in Detroit for the past six years, joins the network as Pakistan recovers from the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and eventually engages in a nationwide election for president.

“Our expansion of personnel in Pakistan is part of our ongoing plan to gather and provide more content for all of CNN, especially since Pakistan remains a very important story on the international scene,” Khosravi said. “Reza has a proven track record of solid reporting in the field and resourcefulness in getting to the critical elements of the story.”
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CNBC will air a two hour special tonight starting at 7pm ET on the market crisis called “The CNBC Edge–Market Survival Guide: Navigating the Global Sell-off”…

A live, two-hour special tonight at 7 PM ET (preempts “Kudlow & Company” at 7 PM ET and the rebroadcast at 8 PM of “Fast Money,” which is broadcast originally at 5 PM ET.)

The special will be anchored by CNBC’s Erin Burnett from CNBC Global Headquarters and Dylan Ratigan from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. As the markets open around the world, CNBC will provide live coverage from CNBC Asia and also feature reports from CNBC Europe as well as live coverage from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland with CNBC’s Maria Bartiromo and Becky Quick.
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During the months of November and December, in the head to head matchup between dayside Monday to Friday 9-5pm newscasts, HLN beat MSNBC; the first time this has happened in over a year. Here are the numbers…

November 9am-5pm Live+SD ratings

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CNN announced this morning that Randi Subarsky has joined CNN Worldwide as VP of Development…

As CNN Worldwide explores innovative ways to embrace information technology and reach its global audience, the network has hired veteran television executive and producer Randi Subarsky as its new vice president of development, it was announced today by Susan Bunda, executive vice president for content development and strategy for CNN Worldwide.

For this new role at CNN, Subarsky will lead program development teams based in Atlanta and New York City with the challenge of developing news programming across multiple platforms with new technology and viewer outreach. She will also serve as the executive overseeing talent recruitment, special projects and cross-platform initiatives. Based in New York, she will report to Bunda.

“Randi’s an exceptional executive and producer with a strong background in producing high-flight programming, a record of success in establishing unique partnerships and a remarkable understanding of the digital space,” Bunda said. “So many aspects about her and her extensive career impressed us that it was essential for us to get her on board.”
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Newsday’s Verne Gay blogs about CNBC’s coverage of Black Tuesday. Verne is very gung-ho about CNBC’s coverage…

Bottom line: Today is the day, no doubt about it, to watch CNBC. It’ll be one of the biggest days in the network’s history - no doubt about that either - so forget about that yummy sandwich segment on Rachel. This is the place to be. One wonders, though, just about twenty minutes to the opening bell, how much light will be shed versus how much panic sewn. CNBC, as a general rule, is magnificent at reaction and has almost perfect 20/20 hindsight. Its predictive powers, however, are uneven, to put it mildly. But on days like this, it moves markets and changes history. Meanwhile, some sound investment advice: Buy, buy, buy stocks of pharmaceuticals that make anxiety meds.

TVDecoder’s Brian Stelter writes about last night’s CNN debate…

Mr. Blitzer appeared at some points to lose control of the conversation as Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and Senator Barack Obama, and to a lesser extent the former Senator John Edwards, traded barbs during the two-hour debate televised on CNN. The result, Jeff Zeleny and Patrick Healy write in Tuesday’s New York Times, was “the most intense and personal exchange of the campaign season.”

In a phone interview half an hour after the debate ended in Myrtle Beach, S.C., the anchorman said his hands-off approach was strategic.

“I wanted them to interact and exchange views,” he said. “I figured I would be successful if I spoke less and they spoke more.”

MediaPost notes that Mediaweek notes (down at the bottom of article) that Bob Flood has joined FNC/FBN as the VP of integrated sales and insights…

Update: Multichannel News has more…

In his new post, Flood is responsible for selling the networks’ TV and digital assets to new and existing advertisers. He will also oversee FBN’s partnership with Dow Jones and their advertising vehicles.

As does The Hollywood Reporter’s Paul J. Gough…
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The Boston Globe’s Joanna Weiss writes about how the primary season is proving to be ratings gold for the networks…

For proof, just look to the viewers. No, campaign coverage still can’t compete with a megahit like “American Idol.” But across the networks, Nielsen ratings have been consistently high, far eclipsing ratings for the 2004 race. Among 25-to-54-year-olds, New Hampshire primary returns on MSNBC drew 210 percent more viewers than in 2004, and 397 percent more than in 2000. November’s CNN/YouTube Republican debate drew 4.5 million viewers, making it the top-rated debate in cable history. ABC’s four-hour debate marathon, days before the New Hampshire primary, drew 8 million viewers on a Saturday night. And Fox News Channel, the sixth-most-popular basic cable channel this time last year, was the third rated channel the week of the New Hampshire primary.

Cable news channels are filling demand by increasing election programming. CNN has launched a weekend “Ballot Bowl” show and recently added another hour of primetime election coverage. Fox News announced that it will air three hours of political coverage on its sister broadcast network on Super Bowl morning, which happens to come three days before Super Tuesday.

The Hollywood Reporter’s Paul J. Gough writes about what happened in business news yesterday on Martin Luther King Day…

It was a huge story for some of the news networks, including Fox Business Network, CNN and Fox News Channel. FBN had the most extensive live coverage. CNBC, following long-standing tradition when the U.S. markets are shut, ran only taped programming. It didn’t take the day off completely, however: CNBC on-air reporters were a part of NBC’s coverage on “Today” and “NBC Nightly News.”

All of the networks were preparing for a big news day Tuesday, when the Asian and European markets would have another go and the U.S. exchanges would be back from the three-day weekend.

Although CNBC ran taped programming throughout the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, it offered coverage of the markets online.

“The U.S. markets are closed, and just as the Wall Street Journal isn’t publishing today, we have focused all of our editorial energy online and tomorrow when the U.S. markets are live,” CNBC senior vp Jonathan Wald said Monday.

Update: Variety’s Sam Theilman writes about FBN yesterday…
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