Keith Olbermann will premiere new show on Al Gore's Current TV this spring [Updated]
Keith Olbermann, the controversial broadcaster who abruptly exited MSNBC last month, announced Tuesday morning that he this spring will join Current TV, the little-watched but rapidly growing cable outlet founded by former vice president Al Gore and legal entrepreneur Joel Hyatt.
Olbermann, who will have an as-yet untitled nightly program on Current and also become chief news officer and take an equity stake in the network, said in a teleconference that he was looking forward to a platform offering “news produced independently of corporate interference.”
Current, which is available in about 60 million U.S. cable and satellite homes and has 15 million more subscribers internationally, is a private company and does not report financial results. But the 6-year-old network is supported by advertising and is seeking broader support among cable carriers as well as a larger audience. Perhaps not coincidentally, the network will offer its "upfront" preview of programming to advertisers on Wednesday, with Olbermann's hiring expected to be central. "Advertisers have certainly looked at Keith as advertiser-friendly," Gore told reporters.
Olbermann and his new bosses offered few details about the host's new program, although the broadcaster hinted that it would be similar to "Countdown," the nightly opinion show that showcased liberal opinion and newsmakers. "Countdown" was MSNBC's top-rated offering, but the host frequently clashed with management at NBC Universal before he left abruptly last month. During the height of the election season last year, Olbermann was briefly suspended for making donations to Democratic candidates in violation of NBC policy.
Olbermann said Tuesday that he did not "want to stay stationary in that sort of mainstream news environment."
With Olbermann's hiring, Current would seem to be lurching into the cable news race where MSNBC and CNN have long run behind Fox News Channel. Hyatt insisted the network would not consider itself a player in cable news, even with its new talent on board, but deferred details until the network's upfront presentation.
That Gore -- a lion of the Democratic party who won the Nobel Prize for his environmental work -- has hired the leading liberal broadcaster would seem to establish Current as a base for left-leaning opinion. Gore said he considered himself a "recovering politician" but that he found himself in "substantial agreement" with Olbermann's views.
Olbermann has said little about his falling-out with MSNBC since he left the network. On Tuesday he promised he would have more to say about that in the future, but that "this isn't the time to do it." An MSNBC spokesman said the network would have no comment on Olbermann's new deal.
As for Current, its leaders are confident that the Olbermann hiring will finally mark its entry into the big leagues of cable TV.
As Gore told reporters: "We have more subscribers today than MSNBC had when Keith Olbermann began working for them" in 2003.
-- Scott Collins
twitter.com/scottcollinsLAT
Photo: Keith Olbermann, who left MSNBC abruptly, is joining Current TV. Credit: MSNBC.
[For the Record, 9:49 a.m.: An earlier version of this post incorrectly said Olbermann would be news director at Current TV.]
Off to obscurity. How the mighty have fallen. Good luck, Keith, should have stuck with sports.
Posted by: Rachel M. | February 08, 2011 at 12:04 PM
I thought I remembered reading that Olbermann would not be able to work for a competitor for some period, maybe as much as a year . . . this was not addressed in the article, it would have been the first question I asked. Anyone know what the deal with that is? Or is Current just not considered a competitor? Or did I imagine the whole thing, like Hope and Change?
Posted by: Scott Seatbelt McLean | February 08, 2011 at 12:11 PM
Can the rooster from the other story please go do the same to 'Dolterman'?
Posted by: SicknTired | February 08, 2011 at 12:29 PM
Who cares? Olbermann will trash out Gore's new lib channel the same way he did at PMSNBC. The Banjo Channel will get better ratings than this hack...
Posted by: Verbalocity | February 08, 2011 at 12:34 PM
It will be good to see Keith's wry style back on TV again.
Posted by: Vincent | February 08, 2011 at 12:36 PM
Olbermann and Gore, truly a match made in heaven. I am beginning to rethink my position on gay marriage. If these two genuinely love each other and want to be together for the rest of their lives, who am I to judge?
Posted by: Greg Maragos | February 08, 2011 at 12:38 PM
We would like to know if...
.
this a promotion...
.
a demotion...
.
or jail?
Posted by: Tipper, MSNBC and Climategate | February 08, 2011 at 12:51 PM
Fruit T.V.
Posted by: L. DiPetta | February 08, 2011 at 12:59 PM
Nielsen will have to get new equipment to calculate a new level of low ratings .
Posted by: outsider | February 08, 2011 at 01:15 PM
What a relief! I've really missed Keith's commentary every night. MSNBC deserves to sink under the weight of defections to Current as punishment for their poor judgement. My viewership has been reduced to Maddow's hour of news and commentary.
Now off to check out Current TV ...
Posted by: Jeanne | February 08, 2011 at 01:52 PM
Thanks so much for bringing back Keith Olbermann. He is the greatest! We need his liberal insights and fine character on the airwaves to combat the likes of FOX News, Sarah Palin and Rush Limbaugh. Thanks Vice President Gore! That was a smart move on your part. Your ratings will soon soar with the brilliance of Olbermann!
Posted by: Raul Ramos | February 08, 2011 at 02:01 PM
Current TV - you have a new watcher. I turned off MSNBC once Olbermann left as a show of protest. Now maybe Rachel will come over as well.
Posted by: Jeff Thurman | February 08, 2011 at 03:03 PM
Yesterday was my birthday, Keith coming back to the airways. The Best birthday present ever! Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!!!!!!!
Posted by: William Kerr | February 08, 2011 at 03:13 PM
we will be watching
Posted by: Mr and Mrs E. L. Holmes | February 08, 2011 at 03:18 PM
Great news! The channel with the best investigative journalism on TV, now has the best progressive commentator too. Can't wait to see the new show.
Posted by: clemont | February 08, 2011 at 03:30 PM
Congrats, Keith!
We used to wonder whether you were revelant or not and now you've removed all doubt! I'm sure your 6 viewers will sue their respective cable companies for not carrying Current.
Posted by: Laughing All The Way | February 08, 2011 at 03:56 PM
This just means that nobody else offered Keith anywhere near the $$$ he demanded. No real network wants the ignominy. Al was getting antsy about looking like a reject. So Al Gore, carbon billionaire, chipped in a time slot (plenty of them open, right next to "Kill It, Cook It, Eat It", a PETA fav) as "Chief" News Officer (LOL) - Current has no news shows so I guess Keith is the chief-whatever. He will always have a following among those who are not interested in news but only in zing-drama based on lies (on, excuse me, "hyperbole"). Will Current viewer-numbers improve? Not hard when its starts at 25,000. LMAO.
Posted by: Sorker | February 08, 2011 at 04:51 PM
Keith, I'm really happy you're coming back!
Posted by: Lillie Griffin | February 08, 2011 at 05:18 PM
Ah, life will be back to normal again with the witty, courageous Keith Olbermann! We need more people like Keith who represent the truth and don't wimp out. Yeah for us and all the best to Keith and Current TV.
Posted by: Esther | February 08, 2011 at 05:27 PM
Yeah! Keith lives on. Pass on the word.
Posted by: solsenz | February 08, 2011 at 05:30 PM