I come to praise Keith, not to bury him.

[flamin lib]

Okay, everybody, just take a deep breath. Keith Olberman was fired, not executed. There is no grand conspiracy to silence liberal television. As long as the ratings are good enough to attract advertisers there will be a place for Rachel, Ed, Lawrence and now possibly Cenk.

Although he inspires fierce loyalty from his staff and audience Keith has a reputation for being difficult to work with from management’s point of view. He’s been fired before because of it and he’ll likely lose another job or two before retiring. In a way he is a victim of his own success; having brought Rachel and Lawrence to MSNBC and building a liberal audience when no one thought it could be done he may have felt too big to fail. He’s been successful enough to amass a comfortable financial cushion, comfortable enough to speak truth and sometimes trash to power. He is one of the fortunate few in a position to say, “Take this job and shove it.”

Keith is an exceptionally talented man and will land somewhere of his own choosing and with his ability to elicit both affection and admiration from his staff he will again have the opportunity to be a very profitable thorn in the side of management.

And every one of us will follow him . . .

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. An interesting take on this from Salon - Was he a victim of his own success?

http://www.salon.com/news/keith_olbermann/index.html?story=/politics/war_room/2011/01/21/countdown_rip

[TBF]

2. I will be interested in whatever he chooses to do next -

I'm sure he did negotiate a good package on the way out. I know he can't compete on tv, but maybe we'll see him on the internet or doing some writing? I'm a fan and wish him godspeed.

[flamin lib]

3. Keith's last contract was $40 mil (I think) for 4 years.

There are two years remaining so he's set for two years. Most contracts become null if the talent goes back to work in a similar position, so $10 mil a year is pretty strong incentive to let him go. On the other hand, he could do something different like sports for the next two years.

[jwirr]

4. I have no doubt that we will be hearing from him again. What makes

me most angry is the timeout clause that will keep him off the air for a period of time. That takes the choice from me. I cannot follow him because they will not let me make that choice. They made it for me.

[Riftaxe]

5. Unless of course Olbermann

Chooses to forfeit the remaining pay on the contract.

[PBS Poll-435]

6. Like that'll happen.

:rofl:

[delightfulstar]

7. I'd love to see him team up with a large online outlet in the meantime...

And do a podcast or something, if he's stuck in a non-compete clause. I would happily watch. He's not going quietly, and I think we will see him very, very soon. One of the other nets might be wise to try to woo him soon, if it's possible for that to happen.