Long Olberdue: MSNBC Announces Termination of Olberman's Contract, Cancellation of Show

Apparently the last episode of Countdown w/Kieth Olberman was on Friday night.

MSNBC issued a statement that it had ended its contract with the controversial host, with no further explanation. Olbermann hosted the network's most popular show, but his combative liberal opinions often made him a target of critics. Olbermann did not explain why he was leaving.

"MSNBC thanks Keith for his integral role in MSNBC's success and we wish him well in his future endeavors," the network said.

A spokesman said Phil Griffin, MSNBC's president, would not comment on Olbermann's exit.

So in other words, Keith Olberman is out of a job [I know it's not nice to laugh at others' misfortunes, but what can I say? -NANESB!]. Maybe President Obama can pull some strings and arrange for him to get one of those 'Green Collar Jobs' his party has been promising the public for the last two years. Or maybe the White House can appoint him to the new position of 'Civility Czar'.

As for MSNBC, no word on whether or not Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik will be filling in Olberman's timeslot. Apparently Olberman's program was the top rated in the MSNBC lineup, but having the best ratings on MSNBC is a little like having the most Zimbabwean Dollars in Zimbabwe.

I actually have mixed feelings about this- while at first blush, an consistently dishonest obnoxious sociopathic blowhard of Olberman's caliber being off the air would seem like a good thing, it was also beneficial to have him out there screeching away like a little shit-flinging monkey every night as the face of the disturbed and unhinged American left.

Comcast has yet to announce any long-term plans regarding Olberman's replacement, let alone the future direction of MSNBC- and by extension the future of progressive hosts like Ed Shultz, Rachel Maddow or Chris 'Tingles' Matthews.

But with that in mind, I can't get this ditty out of my head for some reason:

FCC Approves Comcast-NBC Deal

Federal regulators have approved a deal this week in which cable giant Comcast [NASDAQ: CMCSA] acquired a 51% stake of NBC Universal from General Electric [NYSE: GE].

In a 4-1 vote on Tuesday, the FCC determined that the deal, which creates a company with a combined 16.7 million broadband subscribers and 23 million cable customers, is in the nation’s public interest, seeing it complies with certain conditions.
The conditions, among other things, are intended to ensure that the nation’s largest cable provider share NBC programming, such as MSNBC and USA Network, with cable, satellite and Internet rivals. They are meant to stop the conglomerate from trampling competition, which could ultimately lead to an increase in prices for customers, according to the Department of Justice.

Also according to the deal, Comcast will have to offer online video distributors the same package of broadcast and cable channels as it sells to traditional video programming distributors.

This deal effectively makes Comcast the parent company of MSNBC, which as any cursory glance at the ratings will tell you, was likely kept around by the benevolnce towards the networks leftist 'personalities' by GE CEO Jeffery Immelt. It will be interesting to see if this deal in any way changes the arrangement (and God-awful business model) between MSNBC and its parent company.