I always knew the day would come when I’d have to pull the plug on ICN. Eventually its demands on my time would interfere enough with my schedule and impact my life so severely that I’d have to scale it back. Scaling it back was not an option. You don’t do less just so you can keep doing it. You don’t cut corners. You don’t resort to posting filler to make up for a lack of quality posts. You don’t do all those things and watch your viewers tune out because your product is going south. You either make the effort to put out a quality product or you quit. Actually, those rules apply to cable news too. I’m looking in your direction MSNBC dayside.

Anyway, I’ve reached that point. I can’t keep ICN going in its current form anymore. If you’d noticed it’s been slipping a bit this week as I floundered to try and “do it all”. That was a wake up call. Time to call it a day. Time to reclaim those five hours a day of of my life that are devoted to doing something I like but which I can’t make a living off of. And then there’s my real job which pays me more than I could probably make blogging.

This was all just supposed to be a part time thing for me anyway. A hobby. I was supposed to be part of a team. Yeah, when we started we sucked. I sucked. But over time I found my footing and started doing something with the blog. Though I’m sure some people still think I suck…
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Daily Live+SD Ratings for February 12, 2008

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The Politico’s Anne Schroeder Mullins blogs that Chris Matthews is a last second host sub for an ailing Tony Snow at tonight’s Washington Press Club Foundation dinner…

Earlier today the board found itself calling around to various VIPs asking if they could emcee with hours to go before the event – which, for all intents and purposes is a relatively hard job to do. You have to be witty and charming and have a bankroll of funny jokes for a very tough crowd that includes Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Making earmarks and fundraisers sound funny is not for the lighthearted. Anyway, more to the point: who bailed out the WPCF? MSNBC’s Chris Matthews.

Now, interestingly–ironically– the whole reason this club started decades ago was because the National Press Club wouldn’t allow women to join. Women in general is a huge theme for this dinner. And now, the guy who bails them out of trouble is Matthews, who mere weeks ago was being picketed by the National Organization for Women for his derogatory remark about HRC. What better way to mend your street cred with females than to get the WPCF out of a jam? And it’s a twofer, as obviously Matthews loves roles where he’s in charge.

CNBC.com has put up a Valentine’s Day related section. They’re calling it “Love & Money”…

It’s a figure that could make your heart skip a beat. Americans are expected to spend $17.02 billion this year on Valentine’s Day. And CNBC.com has designed a special section devoted to Valentine’s Day, “Love & Money.”

Go to CNBC.com and click onto the CNBC Highlights section and the “Love & Money” icon.

One of the highlights is an opportunity for individuals to send Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke a special Valentine’s Day card through Jim Cramer, host of CNBC’s “Mad Money w/Jim Cramer” (Monday-Friday, 6-7 PM ET and rebroadcast at 11 PM ET weeknights). Cramer, a vocal critic of Bernanke, gets you started with a card that reads:
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CNN’s release on the iReport.com launch…

CNN Worldwide today announced the beta launch of iReport.com, its first uncensored, unfiltered, unedited, user-generated community Web site. Scheduled for a full-scale launch in March, iReport.com provides users with an open forum and a set of tools and applications to upload, share and discuss news with each other.

Currently available at http://beta.ireport.com, iReport.com is a natural progression of the network’s extremely successful iReport initiative, which has generated nearly 100,000 video, photo and text submissions to CNN.com since the initiative’s launch 18 months ago. Many iReports received – such as critical cell phone video from the Virginia Tech shootings, images of the bridge collapse in Minneapolis, Minn., and eyewitness accounts of severe weather and political protests around the world – provided an added dimension to CNN’s reports each day and for Headline News’ News to Me, the first user-generated television program on cable news.
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CNN announced the upcoming launch of CNN Chile…

Turner Broadcasting System (TBS) Latin America, Inc., the division of TimeWarner, Inc. responsible for CNN’s commercial operations in Latin America, and VTR, a division of Liberty Global Inc., will partner to launch CNN Chile, the first 24-hour, pay television news network specifically programmed for the Chilean market. The channel is scheduled to debut this year on VTR and will be available to other pay television systems.
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In a must read, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Tim Cuprisin hits a home run in his critique of the talent issues at MSNBC, though Cuprisin gives Joe Scarborough a pass when he criticizes Olbermann’s insertion into straight news coverage because Scarborough himself has been inserted into straight news coverage.

The suspension of NBC correspondent David Shuster last week for an unfortunate and offensive crack about Chelsea Clinton points out a bigger problem on MSNBC:

Why are reporters hosting personality-driven shows?

Shuster, an experienced correspondent, was filling in for Tucker Carlson when he went on about the former first daughter’s role in her mother’s campaign.

Said Shuster: “Doesn’t it seem as if Chelsea is sort of being pimped out in some weird sort of way?”

Hillary Clinton’s campaign went ballistic, and Shuster was ordered to apologize and was suspended. There’s a back story here, including a couple anti-Clinton comments that aired on MSNBC, that led to the strong punishment for Shuster.

It was a poorly chosen word to describe Chelsea Clinton, especially as it comes from a guy who has to cover politicians. Still, the real question remains: Why was Shuster filling in for Carlson in the first place?

Al Hunt will interview Nanci Pelosi on Bloomberg TV today. The interview will air tonight at 9pm ET on Money & Politics and on “Political Capitol with Al Hunt” on Friday at 8:30pm ET (repeated throughout the weekend)

Variety’s Sam Theilman writes about the ratings landscape last week…

The news nets continue to scale the heights of cable rankings: Fox News holds steady for its fifth week at its new perch in the No. 3 spot, and CNN’s popular Super Tuesday coverage cushioned a post-debate drop from No. 2 back to No. 8.

Both nets have made significant inroads with the key news demo (25- to 54-year-old viewers): CNN ranks 12th in the list, with a slight edge over FNC to the tune of just 8,000 viewers. FNC has been rising steadily over the course of the dawning presidential campaign, while CNN has been spiking with high-profile coverage such as the debates and then sinking. MSNBC is up just one spot in total viewers this week.

Mediaweek’s John Consoli writes that President Bush will be interviewed on BBC America on Thursday night…

BBC World News America has scored an exclusive interview with President Bush on Thursday, Feb. 14 that will air at 7 p.m. ET on BBC America and BBC World News cable channels.

The interview will be conducted in the White House, on the eve of the President’s visit to Africa, by Matt Frei, anchor of BBC World News America. BBC World News is available in more than 200 countries worldwide.

The Atlanta Journal Constitution’s David Ho writtes about CNN’s new iReport.com…

Unlike CNN’s current effort, in which editors screen material before putting a selection on TV or CNN.com, the new site will have a wide-open environment akin to YouTube and social networking sites.

“We’re letting it live and breathe on its own so everybody can see all the great stuff people are sending in,” said Susan Grant, executive vice president of CNN News Services.

The new site builds on the phenomenon of citizen journalism, which is booming thanks to the Internet and technology such as cellphone cameras and wireless hand-held devices.

“Some of these folks are very passionate about covering news or particular topics or wanting to interact with us or each other,” Grant said.

People submit more than 10,000 iReport items to CNN each month, but only about 10 percent are approved for use online or on the air, spokeswoman Jennifer Martin said, largely because CNN has limited resources to review the material.

Following Wednesday’s launch and about a month of testing to fix problems and get comments, a formal rollout of the Web site is planned for March. The site’s initial address is beta.ireport.com.

The New York Times’ Allessandra Stanley writes about MSNBC coverage of the Potomac Primaries…

At its best, which is usually on election nights or after a debate, MSNBC makes viewers feel that they are in a neighborhood bar with political insiders, listening in on the banter and smart assessments. At its worst, the cable news channel makes viewers feel they are in a neighborhood bar waiting on political insiders, the butt of their banter and smart-aleck assessments.

And Tuesday night, MSNBC tried very hard to be on its best behavior. Chris Matthews, who on “Hardball” often refers to Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton by her first name, switched to “Hillary Clinton, Senator Clinton.” Mr. Matthews was so intent on not causing offense he introduced a senior Clinton adviser, Lisa Caputo, by saying: “What a nice person she is. And I mean this, she’s a friend of mine, they are all nice friends.”

MSNBC was the only one of the three cable news networks that showed Mrs. Clinton’s speech at a Texas rally almost in its entirety; Fox News and CNN cut away much sooner to the primary results. Tuesday night’s coverage of the so-called Potomac primaries on MSNBC was so polite it was almost comical: the channel’s usually brash, voluble anchors were like schoolboys sent to the principal’s office, straining to look penitent and extra attentive.

Here’s a list of the top 25 primetime programs on CNBC for the past five years as ranked by P2+
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Thanks to the broadcast of the Westminster Dog Show last night, CNBC won the Demo and came in 2nd in Total Viewers…

Daily Live+SD Ratings for February , 2008

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CNN announced it will premiere CNN: Special Investigations Unit – The First Patient: Health & the Presidency Saturday, February 16th at 8pm ET…

Amid the 2008 campaign for U.S. president, CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta takes a physician’s look at the health of U.S. presidents and the current candidates and how the high stress of campaigning and governing can affect health. He also reports how a president is treated for sickness or injury at the White House, on Air Force One and while traveling in the United States and abroad.
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Chris Wallace will anchor You Decide 2008 coverage from 8:00-9:00PM ET. Hannity & Colmes will be live from 9:00-10:00PM ET followed by On the Record with Greta Van Susteren from 10:00PM-11:00PM ET and Shepard Smith hosting more You Decide 2008 coverage from 11:00-12:00AM ET.

Chief Political Correspondent Carl Cameron and Major Garrett will provide live updates, in addition to results analysis provided by; The Weekly Standard’s Bill Kristol; Fortune Magazine’s Nina Easton; Politico’s Jim Vandehei and FNC political contributor, Karl Rove. Also, viewers can log on to www.foxnews.com for in-depth coverage of the races.

Tonight Bloomberg TV will have live “Business & the Ballot” coverage of the Potomac primaries during a special edition of Money & Politics hosted by anchor Peter Cook.

Portfolio’s Jeff Bercovici argues that Hillary should back off her fight with MSNBC…

While Clinton believes MSNBC has it in for her, a producer there told me recently that the network’s only bias is an institutional one shared by all media outlets. “Obama’s new, so he’s the story,” says the producer. “She’s been around for 16 years.”

The Clinton campaign’s decision to leak a letter of harsh criticism — after Shuster had already apologized twice, and been suspended from his job — was seen as a bullying move at MSNBC, where Shuster is well-regarded.

Eat The Press’ Rachel Sklar writes about the David Shuster situation…

But though he took the fall, it wasn’t entirely Shuster’s fault. Yes, he said something stupid (and offensive, and inappropriate). But let’s put it in context — the context of a network where conversation is free and easy and where spicy rhetoric has been robustly encouraged, because it’s been working in the ratings but also because frank, no-holds-barred commentary is fascinating and fun to watch. The risk, though, of skating close to the edge is sometimes you go over it. Probably no one means any harm. Probably they’re just being kidding around - but it creates a norm, and not always a great one. It’s within that kind of norm that talk becomes more casual, edgier. Shuster would never have made that comment were he to appear, say, on “NBC Nightly News” — it would have seemed wildly inappropriate and out of place for that no-nonsense, straight-up news environment. But elsewhere on the network, that line has become blurred — as Cenk Ugyur points out, more and more the news has been shot through with strong, spicy opinions, and that affects the atmosphere and that affects the discourse and that affects the norm.

That’s similar to what I said Friday…

FishbowlDC notes that Facebook has a Support David Shuster page up. And note who FishbowlDC believes is behind it…

TV Week’s Michele Greppi writes about Nielsen blowback…

Clients wonder if the delays also could be due to too few personnel—or too many less-trained personnel—handling increasingly complicated core tasks as Nielsen rolls out ever-more-sophisticated products and services—such as its national TV/Internet Fusion database that would allow clients to focus on the relationship between consumers’ usage of both platforms.

Clients also wonder if the problems with the fast nationals delivery hint at other hidden problems in the final nationals or other data.

Such issues are sure to come up in conversations during Nielsen’s national client meeting on audience measurement Thursday and Friday at Caesars Palace Las Vegas.

Nielsen spokesman Jack Loftus downplayed the human error question, characterizing its frequency as “not a lot” and saying it was “way down the list” of bugs in the system. He said error often takes place in the homes in the sample.

The root causes all contribute to stress on the company’s systems, he said, but, “We’re trying to get the data out as best we can and as fast as we can.”

Daily Live+SD Ratings for Saturday, February 9th, 2008

Daily Live+SD Ratings for Sunday, February 10th, 2008
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Waren Buffett phoned in to CNBC this morning during Sqawk Box regarding an offer he made to insurers Ambac, MBIA, and FGIC. CNBC.com’s Warren Buffett Watch’s Alex Crippen has the story…

In a live telephone call to Squawk Box just a few minutes ago, Buffett offered to reinsure $800 billion in municipal bonds now insured by Ambac, MBIA and FGIC, effectively giving them a AAA credit rating.

Those insurers are in danger of losing their AAA credit ratings due to problems with subprime mortgages and other loans.

Buffett tells us he sent that offer to the bond insurers last week, and that he’s giving them 30 days to find a better deal.

Buffett says one bond insurer turned him down, and he hasn’t yet heard from the other two. Buffett wouldn’t say which company turned him down. He said he didn’t think regulators could do much to force the bond insurers to accept his offer, unless they took over the companies themselves.

FishbowlDC has a recap of Hillary Clinton’s comments to the Politico’s John Harris regarding MSNBC and the praise she gives FNC over their coverage of her. Oddly enough, the Politico’s website has an incomplete transcript of the interview as of 10:08pm PST…

Update: The Politico fixed its transcript…

JOHN HARRIS: Senator, you were offended the other day for reasons that I think a lot of people understood by comments that were made on MSNBC. And in the wake of that, I heard from some of the people on your staff who say, to their surprise, they actually think that Fox News is giving you a better break than MSNBC. Is that your perception?

SENATOR CLINTON: Well, there was some independent study that my staff sent me — we didn’t do it — but it was some independent study which seemed to suggest that, that in terms of the fairness of the coverage — you know, look, I’m a mom first. I’m a candidate second. And, you know, I really am troubled by this pattern of behavior and comments that you hear.
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Gawker has an email from Rachel Marsden about her time on Red Eye and Greg Gutfeld. Will this be a topic on the next Red Eye?

Daily Live+SD Ratings for February 8, 2008

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Today, the legendary Harlem Globetrotters brought their basketball skills and wizardry to the floor of the NYSE. In the final minutes of trading, FBN’s Tracy Byrnes played ball with the team while traders smile in the background…

MSNBC announced its coverage plans for the Patomac primaries…

Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann will anchor MSNBC’s special live coverage of the “Potomac Primaries,” in Virginia, Maryland and Washington D.C., tomorrow beginning at 6 p.m. ET.

MSNBC will continue live coverage all day, with NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams, NBC News White House correspondent David Gregory, MSNBC anchor Dan Abrams and MSNBC Chief Washington correspondent Norah O’Donnell anchoring from New York and MSNBC’s Tucker Carlson and NBC News’ Andrea Mitchell anchoring live from Washington D.C.

MSNBC’s primetime lineup begins with “Hardball with Chris Matthews,” live at 5 p.m. ET; Olbermann and Matthews will anchor live coverage of primary returns from MSNBC Election Headquarters in New York beginning at 6 p.m. ET, with Williams and NBC News Washington Bureau Chief and moderator of “Meet the Press” Tim Russert joining to provide analysis, along with NBC News Political Director Chuck Todd. Panelists will include MSNBC political analysts Rachel Maddow and Pat Buchanan, and Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post.

The Huffington Post has video of The View’s Barbara Walters talking about David Shuster…

Today on FBN, David Asman and Liz Claman interviewed Michael Winship, President of the Writers Guild of America, East, and Patric Verrone, President of the Writers Guild of America, West, regarding the deal that was recently agreed upon by the WGA and the conglomerates. Transcript highlights follow…

Winship on the 17-day window agreement stated in the contract:

“We would have liked to have closed that window completely. That is one of the things we did not achieve in this contract and something we will be working on going forward. The important thing is that we got jurisdiction in new media, we got jurisdiction in the Internet and we got a percentage of the distributors’ gross. These were our major goals and we achieved those.”

Winship on whether the networks will air programs after 17 days that would require them to pay writers:
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Newsday’s Neil Best writes about CNBC’s “Swoosh! Inside Nike” special airing tomorrow night…

Tuesday night, the network debuts his most ambitious project to date, a documentary called “Swoosh! Inside Nike,” for which he traveled more than 20,000 miles in December and January.

That includes a visit to Vietnam to observe Nike factories, where conditions have improved in recent years but where problems inherent in third-world production remain.

Rovell’s lineup of interview subjects is impressive, including Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, LeBron James and co-founder Phil Knight, who rarely grants interviews.

CNN announced that Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama will debate on the network next week, February 21st. This does alter the likelihood that Clinton could pull out of the MSNBC debate with another debate in the offing so soon. But I still believe she won’t; that it would hurt her more than help her. Given the tightness of the race betweem the two she needs the publicity that a debate would generate.

CNN, Univision Communications Inc. and the Texas Democratic Party in conjunction with the Lyndon B. Johnson Foundation will host a Democratic presidential primary debate on Thursday, Feb. 21. Both Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama have accepted invitations to the debate. The program will air live from the LBJ Auditorium at the University of Texas in Austin on CNN and on CNN International from 8 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. (ET)/7p.m. to 8:30 p.m. (CT) and will air in Spanish on the Univision Network beginning at 11:30 p.m. (ET)/10:30 p.m. (CT). It will also stream live on CNN.com and will later be available on demand on both on Univision.com and CNN.com. It will also re-air on CNN and CNN en Español.
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New York Magazine’s Daily Intelligencer writes about Eric Burns’ impending departure from Fox News Watch…

Just so you know, Burns, the spokesperson added, the reason they wanted to see other people was that Burns just wasn’t satisfying their needs anymore: “We didn’t feel the current talent would be capable of handling the new direction,” the spokeswoman told the Times. But Fox really can’t blame Burns for pining for them. After all, they are kind of great. Probably the best Burns will ever have. It must be hard for him, you know? The spokeswoman added. “Not having a contributor agreement renewed is something that’s very difficult to accept.”

Meanwhile the AP’s David Bauder writes about the story and interviews Burns…
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The Politico’s Mike Allen says the Shuster camp, for lack of a better word, is circulating an email…(via Fishbowl DC)

David Shuster’s friends and family circulate an “Enough Is Enough” e-mail, pleading for some consideration of the context of his foolhardy remark.

Update: And then there’s this…

The Dow Jones Industrial Average will be making its first change to the average in four years. It was announced today that the DJIA will be dropping Honeywell and Altria from the index and adding Chevron and Bank of America. FBN broke the news of this at 9:05:18 am ET with Alexis Glick reporting the story. Glick brought in the Managing Editor of the Wall Street Journal, Marcus Brauchli to discuss the story.

CNBC broke the news at virtually the same time (9:05:25 am) during Squawk on the Street with Mark Haines and Erin Burnett, who interviewed John Prestbo, Dow Jones’ Indexes Editor & Executive Director a minute after they reported it.