Hey, what are you going to watch tonight at 8 o’clock? Answer: whatever Comcast wants you to. They haven’t decided exactly what that’s going to be, but they’re already sure it’s not going to be Keith Olbermann. Keith Olbermann: you either love him or hate him. Now we know where Comcast stands in that spectrum. On his last show, Olbermann said that, at times, putting on the show “was just too much for me.” I don’t know about that, but it was definitely too much for Comcast.
The “Countdown” finally hit zero. 4, 3, 2, 1… this is the point at which you know Comcast is definitely in charge at NBC Universal. The deal reportedly places limits on Olbermann in terms of working another television job for a time. Yeah, until he can find a TV job that isn’t on a corporate network. Olbermann’s departure undoubtedly includes some sort of “non-compete” clause. But then the whole reason behind his departure is eliminating the ability of progressive talk to compete. It’s hard to have an agenda that’s critical of corporations when you have to depend on corporations to disseminate your message. It’s like trying to put an end to electronic amplification while having to communicate through a PA system.
Olbermann made MSNBC what it is. And this tells you that Comcast isn’t too pleased with what MSNBC is. If Comcast didn’t like MSNBC, why did they buy it? Maybe BECAUSE they didn’t like MSNBC. The corporate way of getting rid of competition boils down to “If you can’t beat ‘em, buy ‘em.” And then you can do what you want with them.
No doubt, Keith Olbermann had a reputation for being difficult. And no doubt that made it a lot less difficult for Comcast to get rid of him. Olbermann was always outspoken. Now we’ve learned that there’s a fine line between “outspoken” and just “out.” As soon as the Comcast/NBC Universal merger was set in stone, that stone fell on Keith Olbermann. Olbermann took off at a time when there was a large imbalance toward conservatives in talk radio and TV. It seems Comcast is determined to restore that imbalance.
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