MSNBC insider told this to Deadline today about Keith Olbermann's departure Friday:

[pintobean]

"This was all Keith's choice. He has several times over the years said that he wants out of his contract. He never meant it until this year. He started lawyers negotiating twice this year. He stopped them in the spring. Then, about a month ago with the guidance of his new ICM team and a new LA manager (who were making zero $ on his current deal), he once again said he wanted to leave and this time they negotiated the full package.

"Because of all the false threats in the past, it was impossible for the network to know if he was really going to sign the final document yesterday. That's why promos for his show were still running after he quit on the air. The network couldn't really believe it or act on it until he said it on TV. They couldn't tell the promo people to pull Keith's show out of the cycle until they were sure. His staff learned he was quitting when they heard him say it on TV.

"Comcast has had no impact at all on MSNBC . Phil Griffin has complete authority. He makes deals without having to consult with anyone. He has made proposals over the years on the fly and in high-speed contexts where he is acting alone and with full authority. MSNBC is Phil Griffin's network and no one at NBC thinks they have a better idea than Phil about what to do next."

http://www.deadline.com/2011/01/nbcu-statement-msnbc-and-keith-olberman-have-ended-their-contract-last-show-tonight/

[Ozymanithrax]

1. You know, I know a guy who knows a guy who owns the Brooklyn Bridge. n/t

[eleny]

2. KO ought to be making things clear pretty soon

He was cryptic last night but gave clues. Eventually, I figure he'll clear up the fact from fiction.

[SoCalDem]

3. Exit-deals often come with non-disclosure clauses.

He may have told us all he will ever tell.

[eleny]

28. Interesting, then, how the corporate side of this has issued a statement

Yet, as you point out, KO might not be able to do the same.

Perhaps over time a preponderance will take shape and that will be that.

[gateley]

13. Agree. Although some reports make sense and have a ring of

truth, until we hear from Keith himself it's all speculation.

[EFerrari]

60. He's gagged from commenting. All we're getting is the other side. n/t

[pintobean]

4. I find this as believable as anything else I've read.

At least, this has a source. Most of what's on DU is nothing more than speculation. We won't know for sure until KO and/or MSNBC make an official statement.

[apocalypsehow]

6. I find it believable, too, especially in light of the "suspension" incident a short while ago.

Thanks for posting this OP. :thumbsup:

[pintobean]

12. Thank you and you're welcome.

[me b zola]

37. One of the reasons that I find this to be UNbelievable

Is how Keith told the story of how when he left espn he was only allowed 30/15 seconds to tell is viewers good-by and he was thankful that he was given more time to say good-by on Countdown.

[bluestate10]

9. Regardless of what the truth is, you won't believe it if it goes against your ingrained beliefs. nt.

[Champion Jack]

10. Really? What's he want for it?

[Swamp Rat]

5. ... yessss... I belieeeeeeve the corporaaaaaations... Comcast Loves You

[madmax]

7. Love our Swamp Rat.. nt

[pintobean]

14. See post #9

[EFerrari]

36. Keith gagged, corporati flooding the media? It must be true!

FOR SALE

[Swamp Rat]

40. FOR SALE - VERY CHEAP

[EFerrari]

41. . . .

:(

[Cass]

8. Keith's staff deserved better than to find out he was quitting when he announced it on-air.

To find out that you lost your job like that with no warning whatsoever is not cool.....its not as if they have lawyers negotiating a 7 figure exit deal on their behalf. I assume this means they are out of a job now, or will they get absorbed back into other positions with the network?

That said, I don't put much stock in this anonymous account because it comes off as a damage control piece for MSNBC and Comcast while painting Keith as a flaming asshole. Who knows.

[pintobean]

11. I agree, who knows

But, I put more stock in this than anyone's suspicions. Hopefully, we'll find out the truth.

[high density]

55. That comment alone about the staff makes me wonder about the validity of this story

I can't see him treating his people that way. It just doesn't make any sense.

[sabrina 1]

15. Who is the insider?

Sounds like a desperate effort to take the blame away from MSNBC and the Comcast merger.

Sounds a lot like the 'company line'.

[pintobean]

16. I don't know. Has KO called bullshit?

[sabrina 1]

17. No, but on his show last night what he did say doesn't

seem to corroborate this version of what happened.

He said he was 'told' that last night's show was 'going to be the last edition of the show'.

If it was all driven by him, I imagine he would have had control of when the show would be?

[coolhip33]

18. He who signs the paychecks gets to say when the last show will be

[Ruby the Liberal]

21. Unless the deal was that upon acceptance, he would not have another show.

He went on air and accepted.

[sabrina 1]

25. This is what he said:

OLBERMANN: "I think the same fantasy has popped into the head of everybody in my business who has ever been told what I've been told: that this is going to be the last edition of your show. You go directly to the scene from the movie 'Network,' complete with the pajamas and the raincoat. And you go off on an existential other-worldy verbal journey of unutterable profundity and vision. You damn the impediments, and you insist upon the insurrections, and then you emit Peter Finch's gutteral resonant ... 'So...' And you implore, you WILL the viewer to go to the window, open it, stick out his head and yell...

Well, you know the rest.

That doesn't sound like someone who is happy about the ending of his show. He may have ended up accepting an agreement, seeing the writing on the wall for the future, or having it pointed out to him considering the rightwing leanings of Comcast, but it doesn't sound like this is what he wanted at all.

[emulatorloo]

22. Why did he seem so calm and peaceful? Additionally why did he talk about his birthday earlier this

week when it is not until the 27th?.

Why did he say earlier in the week "This is the last edition of Worst Persons in the World"?

To me these are clues that this was in the works for a little while.

[sabrina 1]

27. Why did he say this last night if he was happy about ending the show?

OLBERMANN: "I think the same fantasy has popped into the head of everybody in my business who has ever been told what I've been told: that this is going to be the last edition of your show. You go directly to the scene from the movie 'Network,' complete with the pajamas and the raincoat. And you go off on an existential other-worldy verbal journey of unutterable profundity and vision. You damn the impediments, and you insist upon the insurrections, and then you emit Peter Finch's gutteral resonant ... 'So...' And you implore, you WILL the viewer to go to the window, open it, stick out his head and yell...

Well, you know the rest.

'you insist upon the insurrections, and you WILL the viewer to go to the window, open it, stick out his head and yell ...'

As for 'worst person of the year' he was not sure what to do about that he said last week. He had decided to suspend it for a while, but said he had received so many requests to bring it back he was thinking about it. I guess he did, or was told to, drop it.

I do not believe if everything was going well with management, he would would have wanted to end the show. Nor do I take the word of anonymous sources who sound like the memo that came from Comcast this week.

[emulatorloo]

29. "I'm as mad as hell [AT MSNBC} and I'm not going to take this anymore!

You seem to be misunderstanding me, my feeling is KO was probably sick to death of MSNBC management.

His mention of wonderful support he had from Jeff Zucker . . .

versus what I imagine is the hell Phil Griffin has put him through

So I read the calmness as I am getting out of a place I hate.

===

I came across a quote from David Schuster re Management (Phil Griffin Steve Capus):

COOPER: David, I don’t want to put you on the spot too much, but I guess it’s part of…sort of my job in this case. Was he…well-liked within MSNBC? I’ve heard plenty of…what is your impression?

SHUSTER: Well, yeah, it’s a fair question. I think the people he worked with had a lot of respect for him, the people on his show, the director, the technical people. That’s the sort of people who often get forgotten by, you know, major talent. Keith was very kind to them. The make up artists, that sort of thing. I think as far as the management, I mean, Keith had his conflicts with management, going back to when Dan Abrams was running MSNBC and he had his conflicts with Phil Griffin. I think one thing to keep in mind is that not only are things changing with Jeff Zucker no longer running MSNBC, but the reporting structure. You now have Phil Griffin, from what I understand, is going to be reporting to Steve Capus, instead of directly reporting to the head of MSNBC. So Steve Capus, the head of NBC News, will certainly have much more influence over MSNBC. And this may be part of it. It is no secret that Steve was particularly upset –justifiably so—how Keith handled the suspension earlier this year and the donations and Phil Griffin took a little bit of a different tack than Steve probably would have liked. But yeah, I think what you’re seeing now either Keith recognizing, or certainly Steve Capus influencing MSNBC a lot more than he would have had say, a week ago.

http://crooksandliars.com/nicole-belle/david-shuster-keith-olbermanns-depart

[sabrina 1]

35. Sorry if I misunderstood you because I agree with your take on

this. That Keith may very well have had it with MSNBC. We don't know what pressures were being placed on him as to what he could or could not do with his show. Or what personality conflicts there were.

So yes, he may have tried to get more respect from the management, but then realized it was only going to get worse once the merger happened.

He should start his own network. We could use a liberal-run network for a change. The entire media is run by rightwing Corps.

[emulatorloo]

38. Wouldn't that be great! WOW n/t

[alfredo]

48. 8 years is a good run.

Everything comes to an end.

[Shagbark Hickory]

19. This really comes as no surprise if it is indeed true.

Kieth sounded like a nice man on air. Someone you can agree with on everything. And a smart guy.
But for all we know, he could have been like a total Billo off camera. Bossing people around and slapping peoples asses and stuff.
Or like a Hasslehoff.

If Comcast didn't want a strong progressive voice on their network, they'd just change the whole format. And they'd more than likely keep all the same tv personalities. They get paid to read the prompter.

[Recursion]

20. He's apparently very difficult to supervise

Even back in his ESPN days he managed to piss off all his managers, and hasn't stopped doing that.

[chill_wind]

23. I think KO had more input into his show and its format and content

than "just reading from a teleprompter" over these last eight years. Doesn't really sound like you were actually much of a viewer.

[Shagbark Hickory]

31. I watched just about every day.

You can see the reflection of the prompter in the glass windows behind him.

I loved the show but it doesn't make sense that he would be fired if he was making lots of money for the network.

[high density]

56. What does having a teleprompter have to do with anything that is being discussed?

Olbermann clearly set the format for the show and brought in plenty of money for the the network to justify his salary. With the exception of Hardball, the entire rest of their evening lineup is a direct result of Countdown transforming from a news/entertainment show to a news/political opinion show after "Mission Accomplished" in 2004. It brought in viewers and the network was happy to be escaping from third place because of it.

Just because one has a teleprompter doesn't mean they aren't in control of or helping write their show. Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert have teleprompters too.

[emulatorloo]

24. I think Phil Griffin is the BILLO in this scenario n/t

[emulatorloo]

30. UPDATE - David Schuster says KO well liked at MSNBC, very warm and kind with his staff

" I think the people he worked with had a lot of respect for him, the people on his show, the director, the technical people. That’s the sort of people who often get forgotten by, you know, major talent. Keith was very kind to them. The make up artists, that sort of thing."

http://crooksandliars.com/nicole-belle/david-shuster-keith-olbermanns-depart

[Shagbark Hickory]

32. Then why would they fire him?

Maybe he quit?

[emulatorloo]

33. Personally I think he was pretty sick of working there. Especially after Jeff Zucker left

Rest of Schuster's quote:

SHUSTER: Well, yeah, it’s a fair question. I think the people he worked with had a lot of respect for him, the people on his show, the director, the technical people. That’s the sort of people who often get forgotten by, you know, major talent. Keith was very kind to them. The make up artists, that sort of thing. I think as far as the management, I mean, Keith had his conflicts with management, going back to when Dan Abrams was running MSNBC and he had his conflicts with Phil Griffin. I think one thing to keep in mind is that not only are things changing with Jeff Zucker no longer running MSNBC, but the reporting structure. You now have Phil Griffin, from what I understand, is going to be reporting to Steve Capus, instead of directly reporting to the head of MSNBC. So Steve Capus, the head of NBC News, will certainly have much more influence over MSNBC. And this may be part of it. It is no secret that Steve was particularly upset –justifiably so—how Keith handled the suspension earlier this year and the donations and Phil Griffin took a little bit of a different tack than Steve probably would have liked. But yeah, I think what you’re seeing now either Keith recognizing, or certainly Steve Capus influencing MSNBC a lot more than he would have had say, a week ago.

===

I doubt we will ever know the real story re "fired vs quit". Maybe somewhere in between. I doubt he was happy there, especially after that suspension thing.

[Shagbark Hickory]

51. I doubt he was an asshole then again I cant wrap my head around why

comcast would fire him if he was a ratings magnet for the network.
They would do any number of things to take advantage of that.
It's a corporation. In it for the money, not the message.

Billo has done some outrageous things. Instead of getting fired, he gets to interview the Potus. Go figure.

[CreekDog]

46. you're asking why he was fired when his staff liked him?

okayyyyyyyyyyyyy.... :eyes:

[Shagbark Hickory]

50. yeah.

You must think he was fired by comcast.
This makes no sense. Comcast wouldn't fire someone who was making the company a lot of money.
If it was his runaway mouth they didn't like, they'd hire someone from behind the scenes at fox to come over and write the cue cards or they'd put him on late at night or early in the mornign.

[suffragette]

54. You might want to read up on MSNBC firing Phil Donohue

http://www.democracynow.org/2005/3/24/phil_donahue_we_have_an_emergency
Phil Donahue was on in the same time slot as Fox’s Bill O’Reilly, but the show didn’t last—Phil’s, that is. In fact, it didn’t even last a year, even though it was MSNBC’s top rated program. When Donahue was fired, the network moved to hire a string of right wing hosts. Phil Donahue joins us in the studio right now.

[Shagbark Hickory]

57. You might want to read up on Tucker carlson.

His ratings sucked and he was fired. So what's your point exactly?

[suffragette]

58. You wrote " Comcast wouldn't fire someone who was making the company a lot of money."

Yet, in the instance of Donahue being fired, we have a clear case of a top money maker for MSNBC being fired by the corporation.

My point is that corporations will indeed fire someone who "is making the company a lot of money." It's been done before, in fact, done at this same network.

And, yes, it is more surprising and people question motivations more when someone like an Olbermann or Donahue, who have top shows, who make money for sponsors and the network and who represent a point of view generally underrepresented, are terminated in this manner.

Hmm, questioning?
Where have I heard that recently?


The Scotty Who Knew Too Much:
"Moral: It is better to ask some of the questions than to know all the answers."

[Shagbark Hickory]

59. Another one that doesn't make sense. There may be another reason.

[EFerrari]

39. Keith is a Pod Person!

[CreekDog]

47. that's a ridiculous statement...they fired Phil Donahue without changing their format

they just did it.

frankly, if the network ever did something especially bad, Olbermann is the one among their hosts likely to make a stink about it ON AIR, and have the clout to be listened to.

[Raine]

26. I don't believe this for a minute. nt

[wisteria]

34. I don't buy this story. Comcast had everything to do with Obermann leaving MSNBC. n/t

[JamesA1102]

45. And your proof of that is what? nt

[jwirr]

42. Here again we are supposed to believe that an outside force did

not influence decisions. Comcast had no impact. Do they mean that the negotiator did not know that their new owner had already said they did not want KO because he was a loose cannon? Griffin did it all by himself in this imaginary vacuum. I believe that KO wanted out and I do not blame him but if they were not sure of the Comcast reaction they never would have made the move.

[Botany]

43. "Comcast has had no impact at all on MSNBC .

Please, their C.O.O. was a bush Pioneer.

[davidwparker]

44. When you listen to what he said, you hear at the beginning

that he was told this would be the last Countdown. That is, Company saying to employee.

The themes in the Furber reading dealt with getting beat up; white streaks down the back; etc.

So, he's doing a show for 8 years, then he is gone in one show. His twitter from 7:30pm says there will be a change to the selected reading. One would think someone who was doing a show for 8 years would at least announce that he was leaving the show and close it out ... you know, like Larry King.

This is SPIN.

[chill_wind]

49. Really, sounds like spin and damage control

for a decision that put them on the front page of every paper. Maybe they underestimated the blow back and huge reaction.

[rocktivity]

52. "Comcast has had no impact at all on MSNBC . Phil Griffin has complete authority..."

If this "insider" is high enough up the latter to know the intimate details of the Comcast-Griffin relationship, he ought be high up enough to dare speak his name!

:rofl:
rocktivity

[oldlib]

53. This suggests that the breakup

may have been mutual. I will give MSNBC the benefit of the doubt and continue watching Rachel, Ed and O'Donnell. I don't have much use for Mathews, however.