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February 11, 2012
 
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Keith Olbermann Denies that 'Countdown' is Going Down

by Danny Gallagher, posted Feb 5th 2010 8:35PM

Fox and MSNBC have been attacking each other with more frequency (but probably less violently) than the Black Spy and the White Spy, and one of their main forms of ammunition have been their respective ratings.

So naturally 'Countdown', hosted by the rather large (both in stature and physical size) talking head Keith Olbermann, had to respond to a report that appeared in the New York Post's "Page Six" column claiming that his show is one baboon hair away from cancellation hell.

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Melanie51

Not hard to understand why this "rumor" is being floated when you look at the facts. Fox News had all 13 of the top cable news shows in total viewers in January (the 5th month in a row), and had the best January in its history. Fox was up 22% in total viewers in January compared to January 2009, and up an extraordinary 51% in the key 25-to-54 demographic.

CNN was down 34 % in total viewers in January compared to 2009, and MSNBC was down 26%.

For the month, Fox averaged 2.94 million prime-time viewers, compared to 946,000 for CNN and 838,000 for MSNBC, according to Nielsen. Olbermann slipped to 3rd in his time slot behind O'Reilly and Nancy Grace.

February 08 2010 at 1:42 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Jim

Olbermann is a douchebag. Never should have left sports.

And really, what's the difference between a blog and his TV show? It's all opinion.

February 06 2010 at 11:00 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
RevJonathan

I miss the good old days, when Keith was on ESPN and cool.

February 06 2010 at 6:13 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Pam

Olbermann doesn't seem to get it that screaming & name-calling, if it can ever be called entertaining, gets old pretty quickly. Mark Levin has a point when he calls Keith's show "Countdown to No Ratings". If he starts making nice with the ESPN brass now, maybe he can get hired back there.

February 06 2010 at 4:47 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Pam's comment
LevinScreams&CallsNamesToo

Do you have any sense of the irony that you are calling out Olbermann for "screaming and name calling" and then quote Mark Levin with regard to the Countdown ratings dropping? Have you listened to Levin? I am not defending Olbermann here, but unfortunately all of the political commentators on television and the radio scream and call names. That is the genre these days and apparently they do it because people watch and listen. I used to enjoy these programs and then it dawned on me that they all are doing much more harm than good. Are they really providing some sort of public benefit? Do they really elevate the political discussion in the country?

February 08 2010 at 4:37 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Michael

There are several reasons that MSNBC has the worst ratings. Keith your just 1 of them.

February 05 2010 at 11:57 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
emtae

geez

KO is complaining about a story coming out of the blogs?

That's what his show runs on, and it always has. Hell, he regularly previews his shows at Daily Kos.

Keith, the only people that watch your show are some left wing crazys, and some right wing crazy bloggers looking for stuff to blog about. Your show is unpopular for a reason.

February 05 2010 at 11:33 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Scott

Wow, MSNBC in HD! I live in a tiny, cable-deprived little town called Washington, DC, where cable monopolist Comcast still doesn't offer this. Although they do have CNN HD and Fox News HD.

As Keith destroys their sad, sorry lie, it reminded me of a quote from the Bush administration, told to Ron Suskind back in 2004: "We create our own reality." And their opponents live in the "reality-based community", whereas they do not. If enough tiny blogs and PR flacks can start a rumor, it can end up filtering up to rags like the NY Post or even semi-respectable newspapers. Then it's just plain "facts". Lies, but still reported as "facts". Orwell would be proud.

February 05 2010 at 10:50 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Scott's comment
emtae

If you actually believe only Repubs push rumors into the media, you're an Obama dupe.

It's standard politics, and the Obamas do it as much as anyone. If, not more.

February 06 2010 at 4:04 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply

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