MSNBC Threw Liberals Under The Bus And Is Now The Lowest Rated News Network

[cal04]

MSNBC claimed that they were boosting their ratings by dumping their liberal hosts and switching to news, but over the last 4 weekdays, they have been the lowest rated cable news network three times with the key 25-54 demo audience.

On August 13, the daytime demo viewership numbers via TVNewser were FNC: 236,000 | CNN: 118,000 | MSNBC: 75,000 | HLN: 102,000. The next MSNBC rose to third place during the day by beating Headline News in the demo 103,000 to 88,000. On Monday, August 17, it was Headline News 102,000 and MSNBC 92,000. MSNBC lost to Headline News again yesterday by a margin of 98,000 demo viewers to 81,000 demo viewers.

Maybe the problem at MSNBC wasn’t that viewers did not want liberal politics. The problem was and remains that viewers would like programs that are interesting. MSNBC’s primetime is not great shape either. The network’s primetime lineup is mired in third place and losing ground to CNN on a daily basis. The Rachel Maddow Show is the only thing that is keeping MSNBC primetime from last place

http://www.politicususa.com/2015/08/19/msnbc-threw-liberals-bus-lowest-rated-news-network.html

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

1. MSNBC needs to ditch Scarborough, Mitchell, and now Todd. nt

[daleanime]

41. +1

[TheBlackAdder]

51. I can't stand them now. Even Rachel and Lawrence are muzzled. It frees up my night.

.


MSNBC is so bad that I stayed on FOX News to see the post debate wrap-up before turning to The Daily Show.


Joe Scarborough and Chuck Todd were on at night, and those two are revolting creatures.


.

[emsimon33]

106. I turned Rachel off this evening

She now wastes so much time. Talking about Jeb Bush, she went on and on over the same, silly thing about being his own man and not involving his family but then involving his family. Who cares? Certainly no one cares in relation to the amount of time she wasted on the story. It is as if she has been told to waste time...to run out the clock.

The other problem, besides having gotten rid of Ed after putting him in a no-win time slot and not repeating the show for the West Coast feed at 5:00 pm PST or PDT, is that one show after another focuses on the same stories for the most part and they have gone gaga over Trump. Bernie is hardly ever mentioned and when mentioned is usually as an after thought or marginalized. Liberals are tired of Trump Trump Trump all the time. Give at least equal time to Bernie and the other Democratic candidates.

If I wanted to watch Republican misdirection and lies, I could watch Fox. Andrea Mitchell and Chuck Todd are jokes and Scarborough belongs on Fox.

MSNBC might as well run prison shows 24/7, 365.

I get turned off these days every time I turn them on.

[TheBlackAdder]

112. Last night - ONLY covered GOP candidates, NO DEMS, and a 10 minutes on the 2 Female Army Rangers. nt

[Mike Nelson]

2. Dear MSNBC: Pleaae give RON REAGAN a show!

ASAP

[AndreaCG]

10. Excellent choice!

How about Jennifer Granholm too? I liked her so much on Current some days I'd watch her rather than Rachel. And Rachel needs to knock off the repeating her point three times or more every segment that a guest isn't on or people will stop watching her too.

[tech3149]

17. I agree on both points

I really miss Granholm, she was really impressive. I love Rachel and try to watch but there is a very distinctive change from her first few months at M$NBC. Too many stories covered now are superfluous or distractions.
I think Chris Hayes was much better on the weekends where he could research and select more important stories. Also his panels have gotten considerably weaker than they used to be. I haven't seen Alexis Goldstein on in quite a while.

[Mike Nelson]

91. Yes...

...Rachel was best when she started with an in-depth, investigative segment - and had a short, silly segment later. The show has been faltering.

[Mike Nelson]

90. Agree!

... on Jennifer & Rachel.

[emsimon33]

107. That is my complaint. She wastes time which wastes our time.

[cui bono]

105. And John Fugelsang!

[True Blue American]

124. I love John

He had a great show on Current. If anyone finds him,let me know.

[briloop]

120. Totally agree

He has the best insight on what's going on.

[7wo7rees]

3. Yep! They did it. Reap what you sow. So very sad! nt

[riverbendviewgal]

4. I am not surprised

I was an avid viewer. Now I find it boring with the same old, same old.

I watched Chris Matthews lately and he interrupts and shouts out his guests. Just like Fox.

DU and other internet blogs is where I get my news now. Yesterday we changed to Bell TV and I found we have Al Jazeera news now. Wow.. That shows the rest of the world news besides US... very enlightening.

Donald Trump is so awful that it is creepy how the American news are such followers. and yet Bernie Sanders is ignored.

I feel so sorry for America.

Hopefully Canada will be turned orange in October to stop the Harper Americanization of my country.

[True Blue American]

62. Aljazeera

Has become my favorite station, but we also have Link TV and Free Speech TV. They are self supported like PBS.

Bill Press, my all time favorite is on Free Spech.

[Jim Beard]

100. I just read the articles on-line plus

they also have on-line vedios.

[emsimon33]

108. I have switched to Aljazeera myself.

MSNBC's crashing and burning is the best thing that ever happened to Aljazeera.

[True Blue American]

118. App

I have the AJ App. When I switched from Cable to Direct I had to order AJ on a different tier.

That is when I discovered Link and Free Speech. I like AJ because they just give you facts. The line up is good Journalists who want to do Investigative Journalism.

[INdemo]

5. Only a matter of te before Rachel is

gone. Never mind the rating Republican/corporate owners just want the liberals out and "yes sir" script readers in

[stevenleser]

9. The exact opposite. Right now I think they are kissing her feet the moment she walks in the building

and are doing everything possible to cater to her.

Without her, the network is gone in a few weeks.

[INdemo]

39. That isnt the way corporatists/Republicans think though

[stevenleser]

40. It's exactly the way they think. She is the only one bringing in ad $$$. nt

[Control-Z]

6. The Rachel Maddow Show

is the only program I watch anymore.

[Eleanors38]

7. The old MSM T.V. is like radio: Dying off with the population using them.

[Ikonoklast]

69. See: Limbaugh's ratings.

No new listeners, current ones literally dying off.

[Cleita]

8. I'm putting on my

right now, but I'm speculating that this has been the plan all along when Comcast took over. It happened in radio when the monopoly radio companies started airing progressive talk radio shows on the lowest power stations they owned. As soon as they could get listeners to stop listening because of the awful reception, they changed the format to either sports or canned music that they could operate on a really cheap budget.

I see the programming heading to whatever can be done cheaply or maybe sports and once Rachel's contract is up, she will be gone along with Chris Hayes and Lawrence O'Donnell.

[Marty McGraw]

45. and you weren't the only

one to notice that. I'm so glad to hear it from another's voice. Say it to anyone else and they just roll their eyes.

Sad.

[jwirr]

57. Lock Down 24/7 Oh, good.

[Chakab]

64. That's part of the equation. The Limbaugh sponsor boycott also had a side effect of hastening

the death of progressive radio around the country because the sponsors who pulled their ads from Limbaugh's show made the decision to stop sponsoring political talk altogether.

[DirkGently]

11. Eh. I find Chris and Rachel better liberals than Ed.

I know he talked a good populist game, and I liked it too, but I always heard the ex-conservative radio host in him. Lots of shouting generalities; not a lot of analysis.

Chris Hayes can analyze and explain policy and politics at a level, and with a reassuring lack of emotional bias that I see nowhere else on television. Rachel Maddow is simply brilliant, and makes more partisan arguments in a slightly more mannered way, but remains extremely compelling and essentially unassailable in her approach.

I don't care for Lawrence's venom -- he always looks like he's about to pop a blood vessel.

Tweety's not going anywhere. He's his own thing, and he's probably got a level of clout at this point no one can touch.

It was kind of funny the other night when he was sniping with Scarborough and ended with "vampires rise at dawn," looking right at him.

I don't know why MSNBC's ratings aren't great, but I don't place a lot of stock in the tastes of the public at large. Fox and cheesy reality shows get great ratings, despite both requiring and contributing to ignorance and stupidity.

I'd like to see MSNBC emphasize the brain trust they have in Hayes and Maddow and Kornacki and build from there. It's still the best source on television for intelligent discussion as far as I can see.

[murray hill farm]

13. http//www.freespeechtv

Real news! Check it out. Carried on dish on channel 9416 and others that you can checkout on the site.

[DirkGently]

14. I will look into this -- thank you! n/t

[murray hill farm]

27. You will love it.

If you cannot get it via your tv, it does live stream on the site. Bill Press, Stephanie Miller, Thom Hartman, Amy Goodman and more. Viewer supported, no commercials and not owned by any media corp. It is free to view, but you will want to support just to keep it going.

[MadCrow]

58. Bernie Sanders

has been a guest on Thom Hartmann's program for years. He usually comes on for an hour on Fridays called Brunch with Bernie where he takes calls from listeners. You can catch Thom on Free Speech TV from noon to three, as well as on Sirius radio 127 at the same time. This is then rebroadcast on Sirius 127 from 9pm t0 midnight est; then followed by Mike Malloy. Thom is also on Free Speech TV at 10PM est on the Big Picture. There are progessive voices out there, we just have to look.

[Jim Beard]

101. also on ROKU

ROKU

[ooky]

96. IMO Thom Hartman has best political talk show on TV by far. And check out FSTV documentarys too.

Channel 348 on Direct TV. BTW Thom is temporarily off air until end of month - moving his studio.

[True Blue American]

65. And Link TV!

On Direct, 375, Free Speech, 348.

[truedelphi]

77. Thank you for the mention of freespeechtv nt/

[True Blue American]

121. Oh, I am

Thrilled to find such Progressive stations. We need to spread the word far and wide.

After Gore sold Current I lost Bill Press, my favorite. Now I can watch him, Thom Hartman.

All the greats that give you the news. Like PBS, they start up,then progress.

Bush tried putting a Conservative in as President of PBS to make it right wing.

Bill Mower came out of Retirement he was so angry the Conservative was soon gone. But now Charlie Rose is on with Mike Allen,the sleaziest Reporter since Drudge. So they are still trying.

[jwirr]

60. Since Comcast took over all of these programs have changed. I watched

these shows in the evening for the same reason I watched Walter Cronkite years ago - because they were liberal.

So when Comcast took over two things happened. First all the trivia events like the candidate games they are playing replaced serious discussion and second every single show had a R on it to argue the case. To the point that Ed even had to fact check some of them.

If I wanted to watch Rs I would turn on mo joe.

They need to free our liberal commentators so they can give us the stories we are looking for. Trump on every show hour after hour is NOT what we want. Michael Steele is not what we want.

They are not giving us what we want and we are no longer watching.

[Fred Sanders]

78. Bingo, bango, bongo! Comcast executives in control changed MSNBC. Morning Joe and daytime was always RW, so Quelle surprise!

[DirkGently]

115. I don't see Republicans dominating on Chris / Rachel.

As for the games, I thought the one Hayes did actually afforded some good discussion given the guests he had participating. I'd rather see smart people having some fun than listen to people with less to say saying it louder, which unfortunately is the way I viewed Ed Schulz.

The dreadful trivia thing they had Kornacki do did actually make me quit his show for a while, but I think that was in RESPONSE to poor ratings, although I'm sure it just hurt them more.

[jwirr]

117. I do not view news and commentary programs as entertainment so I

really dislike what is going on now. As for Ed what I like about him IS that he is a fighter and would be the person I wanted at my back if I were in a fight. Fortunately I still watch him on the internet. Likewise Keith. Wish he would do an internet thing.

I like Chris Hayes when they let him go out into the field - like Ferguson MO. Rachel is also great in indepth reporting but they are not letting her do that unless we think talking non-stop Trump is indepth reporting. I only watch Lawrence O for insight into the workings of Congress.

In truth I am watching almost no tv anymore. I can get Link but none of the other independent channels. I am looking forward to the end of my contract so I can quit altogether.

[True Blue American]

123. Have you seen

Who is filling in for Ed? That bore some Old Professor I could not stand on Ed. Ed had him on,now he is taking Ed's place! Ugh!

[jwirr]

129. Actually I saw him on Ed's web site as a guest. I thought it was kind of

interesting that they are such good friends.

[PatrickforO]

12. Bad business decisions by Comcast.

I don't think they care much, though. The last thing these big corporatists want is for Americans to have access to any kind of truth.

[zeemike]

22. And I think you are right...they don't care.

It is about keeping the truth from people not informing them.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

15. Yeah, but they still have Prison Porn on weekends

So there's that.

If it has an audience.

[Faux pas]

16. I'm down to just

watching Chis Hayes and Rachel. Getting bored with them and the trump thing anymore. Gag, gag and gag.

[katmondoo]

18. Me too

Sometimes Lawrence O'Donnell

[Faux pas]

19. Yep

and sometimes Lawrence for me too.

[SCantiGOP]

20. I watch Matthews and Maddow

Really agree with a post above asking to get rid of Chuck Todd. I can't bear to watch him.

[Faux pas]

23. Matthews

makes my ears hurt, too high of a pitch to his voice for me. Fhuck Wadd should have been moved over to faux snooze a long time ago.

[Contrary1]

21. Quit watching when they dumped Keith...

Maybe they can give the Duggars an hour or two daily to booth their ratings. Seems to be the targeted audience these days.

[Cherry Creek Native]

24. Rehire Schultz, fire Todd from both networks

and give Schultz a 10 year guaranteed contract allowing him freedom to do what he does best.

Hire Olbermann, hire Rhodes, hire Mike Malloy, etc.

Then dump M$ from the name, call it PNBC (as in Progressive NBC)

Guaranteed #1 ratings forever, if done right. Of course, Comcast won't do it, and are quite happy to do it.

Maddow should quit, just to spite M$NBC

[MissDeeds]

49. Yep

and add Ron Reagan and Phil Donahue to the mix and they would see their ratings increase. As it is now, I refuse to watch MSNBC.

It is quickly becoming Trump TV and it makes me want to

[jwirr]

63. My day dream is that Keith, Ed, and all the remaining liberals who are

still on MSNBC and those who were on Current would buy their own channel and become a real progressive network.

I would watch all day.

[True Blue American]

119. Many are

Ed has his web site. We have Free Speech TV and Link.

With Thom Hartman, Bill Press,Amy Goodman and many others there, they are growing every day.

Much like cable the MSM is slowly dying out. After leaving TW because the last gouge drove me to Direct, I was really surprised how modern the Dish really is.

With streaming we will soon be off cable altogether.

BTW,after I left TW they are now sending me notices they will give me the same bundle for almost half what they were charging. No thanks.

[jwirr]

128. I know several of my grandchildren are getting some pretty good deals.

I think they are beginning to hurt. Like all other corporations they are going to wake up one day to the fact that they need customers.

[flamingdem]

93. Yes to all your suggestions

But hope Rachel hangs tough.

[olddots]

25. MSNBC is now Trump 24/7

[ooky]

94. Except for Scarborough.

He's 100% about Hillary's email. Day after day now. I'm finding another show to have my coffee with. If I wanted to hear that every morning I could watch Fox. They should change the name from "Morning Joe" to "Morning Joe's Hillary Email Rhetoric".

[brooklynite]

26. And I assume you know what would be interesting to their audience?

What I take from this thread is: "get rid of all the shows that -I- don't like..."

[JDPriestly]

42. Where is MSNBC going to find a loyal audience?

It's not going to convert the Fox audience. The NBC and ABC and CBS audiences are established and are where they are. MSNBC has to do something different.

Personally, there is no TV for me and my husband. So we don't have cable. None of the stations offer us more than we can get from the internet, Netflix and Hulu. And the combination of internet, Netflix and Hulu is what we can afford. For us it's either broadband or television. That's true for a lot of people. Cable is too expensive for what you get.

[brooklynite]

47. "I can't afford to watch" doesn't seem to be what the OP is suggesting...

...as for MSNBC's audience, has it occurred to anyone that maybe liberals don't like to spend endless hours watching cable news?

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

28. Their shows have become so repetitive of each other too

Each show seems to cover the same stories all day. If I want a different news experience about daily events, I turn to Amy Goodman and Thom Hartmann.

[Atman]

46. This is perhaps their biggest problem.

With the except of Morning Joe's GOP Love-Fest, every other show is just a rehash of the previous show, just read by a different personality. There's no reason to watch more than one of them on any given day because they're all reading the same script. If real, actual news happens to break during the day, MSNBC (which is not really a news channel anyway) is the very last place people turn to for. CNN sucks ass, but at least they seem to do a good job of pretending to be news. Fox just watches all the other channels and reads Brietbart and Drudge -- they don't actually have a news department (really). So, even with all these supposed cable news outlets, local or network news still tends to have the only real news (as in breaking, not celebrity gossip and miracle puppies).

MSNBC gave viewers very little reason to watch them, and with the recent changes, even less now. I ditched cable about a year ago and have never looked back. I sure as hell don't MSNBC (although I still listen occasionally on SiriusXM in the car).

[Jim Beard]

102. I hesitate repeating this but

MSNBC is in the 2nd teir when choosing a cable of satellite service. Many just want the basic because the second teir is about $20 a month more.

[wolfie001]

29. When one of you "stars" is Scarborough....

.....you know you're shit.

[martigras]

30. We all knew this would happen

They should never have canned Ed Schultz and they need hosts like John Fugelsang. Hopefully this will
be the end of Chuck Todd.

[jberryhill]

31. Trump? Trump! Trump, Trump

Trump Trump.

Trump Trump, Trump - Trump - Trump!

Trump?

Trump, Trump Trump.

Trump Trump Trump Trump Trump Trump Trump.

Trump... Trump!

[eppur_se_muova]

44. I'm having Trump Trump Trump Trump Trump Trump Trump beaked beans Trump Trump Trump and Trump! nt

[jberryhill]

48. Eggs, Trump, baked beans, bacon and Trump!

Because it hasn't got as much Trump in it.

[Stellar]

71. You forgot Donald Trump. 24/7 all day every day. Donald Trump! nt

[jonno99]

75. I couldn't agree more! nt

[jberryhill]

76. Trump Trump!

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

80. I have no gift to bring pa trump trump trump trump

That's fit to give our king
Pa trump trump trump trump
Trump Trump Trump Trump
Trump Trump Trump Trump

[jberryhill]

81. My Trump

What you gon' do with all that Trump?
All that Trump inside your Trump?
I'ma get, get, get, get, you Trump,
Get you love Trump off my Trump.
My Trump, my Trump, my Trump, my Trump, my Trump,
My Trump, my Trump, my Trump, my lovely little Trump

[leveymg]

32. All that MSNBC is interested in is selling vodka and Lincolns to 27 year old stock brokers.

Problem is, CNC already does that, and they're mostly closet Republicans.

Comcast execs don't think we're their kind of demographics, so they're dumping their Democratic audience and cutting costs.

[jberryhill]

82. ...with toenail fungus, ulcerative colitis, and erection problems.

[Vinca]

33. Rachel is the only show I'm consistently watching on MSNBC.

I've actually discovered Chris Cuomo on CNN is pretty entertaining in the morning. If MSNBC doesn't want to lean left anymore, that makes it like the other "news" channels so there's no reason to be loyal to it.

[kelliekat44]

52. And kissing up to Trump with endless coverage of the toad turns off their regular viewers. nt

[marble falls]

34. TRM is the only progam I watch there exclusively. I've been thinking about sacrificing the...

neighbor's poodle to the news gods for the blessing of Kieth Olbermann and MSNBC hooking back up at least by next spring.

[Enthusiast]

35. MSNBC has an agenda that viewers will not embrace.

Liberal viewers are not like Fox "News" viewers where you can tell them what you want them to believe and they will enthusiastically eat it up.

When MSNBC got rid of Donahue, Olbermann, Cenk, Ed and the others, just because they wouldn't follow the strict corporate script, MSNBC was forever compromised in my mind.

I will not watch MSNBC again until they drop the right wing/Third Way agenda.

[turbinetree]

38. That nailed it right there...............................

Honk---------------for a political revolution Bernie 2016

[NOVA_Dem]

103. Somebody who gets it!

Rachel and Chris Hayes are still on MSNBC b/c they are willing to stick with the 3rd way script.

[Enthusiast]

36. Kicked and recommended! I hope MSNBC hits rock bottom.

[JDPriestly]

37. MSNBC was not a station on the low-priced list of stations in my area of Los Angeles.

If you have to pay premium prices to watch it, of course the ratings will be low.

Also, can you watch it on the internet. I have given up trying, but maybe I am doing something wrong.

MSNBC is poorly run. If they aren't in the low-priced cable selection group, they can't expect to compete with cable stations that are.

[senseandsensibility]

53. I'm not familiar with what stations are

in the low priced cable category. I'm assuming the three networks are. What about fox and cnn? Interesting point.

[jwirr]

70. It depends on where you live. I get MSNBC in the low cost package in MN.

[sunnystarr]

97. Not in bottom tier in NY or TN (nt)

[jwirr]

116. This does not seem to make sense. Wonder how they decide?

[sunnystarr]

127. I didn't know it was

in bottom tier anywhere. This is the first time I've seen anyone say it was. It isn't just with Comcast, it was same with AT&T. Wonder if the diff is between cable and dish.

[jwirr]

130. We have the cheapest package with Direct TV.

[napi21]

104. FOX is free. That's one reason their #'s are always good. The other reason is...

they apparently have some kind of agreement with Dr.'s hospital waiting rooms, etc. EVERY Dr I've visited in YEARS have all had FOX tuned in on their TV. I once heard that they supplied TVs to places lie that with the agreement that they will keep FOX on. I'm not sure I buy that though. Maybe at first they did, but there's just too many now.

I heard the other ay though that FOX was free. How they can manage to offer their station free and all the other cable news stations are premium, I have no idea.

I've also been thinking about why MSNBC daytime ratings have been so low, and I think I know. Almost ALL liberals wav to work for a living, and are not around to be watching TV during the day. Lots of conservatives are either rich enough that they don't work, or old enough to be retired. The only thing Fox has to compete with are the soaps.

[Leopolds Ghost]

43. I already could not stand Maddow, sadly. Sad to see final death of Air America progressive talk.

First they got screwed over by Al Gore and his infotech investors because Kieth Olbermann et al. would not kowtow to Democrats and be partisan. Only Maddow would.

Also, now Scott Walker can brag he got Ed Schultz fired instead of the other way around. Kudos, Media Dems!

[NRaleighLiberal]

50. as if they care...

[SoapBox]

54. The channel really sucks now...

And sucks worse than ever.

When RM spends most of her show now on T-Rump...and smiles and laughs...well...

Buh-bye.

[True Blue American]

122. I agree

Quit watching Rachael too. After Ed was fired,the end for me. Sharp ton shouting does not appeal to me. Kornaki is all over now. He seems to be on every show. Spreading him thin, but he is better than the regulars.

Like a sore tooth, I keep checking in,then move on.

[jwirr]

55. To fix at least the evening shows they need to free their hosts so that

they can decide their own guests (No Rs), decide their own topics and say what they want. In other words get the eff out of their way.

[kwolf68]

56. Maybe not enough Liberals watch TV

Living in Pittsburgh I have a good mix of Liberal and Republican friends.

My Liberal friends: You goto visit them, no TV is on, they have rooms dedicated to NO TV...these are rooms with books, games, chairs, areas of the house ostensibly set aside for family time, reflection and learning. They value relationships and exchange, possibly some music is playing in the background but time with family and friends is time with family and friends.

My Conservative friends: TV is blaring full speed, conversations revolve around what is on TV (may be bad, good or indifferent). Main room has TV, usually a very nice one in plain view and easily accessible. Hard to find literature or books, certainly no rooms dedicated to intellectual pursuits. After a long hard day on the grind who wants to come home and reflect on Plato or opine about the meaning of it all.

This is why AM radio is so loaded with righties and lefties are like the Dodo Bird. Liberals simply don't want shit ground into their head. They consider intellectual pursuits as a journey of discovery. Because we Liberals are fairly confident we're on the right path in our intellectual and political salvation we read objective pieces, even views contrary...we don't need a "left wing Rush Limbaugh" telling us about Conservatives, because we're not much interested in them. We are more interested in solidifying the mental apparatus that helps give us meaning. In short, we just are not interested. In talk radio or TV. Sure, I listened to Stephanie Miller some, randy, Thom, but in the end of the day I didn't listen often. Just had other things going on. And capitalism doesn't like that volatility...Conservatives are there at 12PM every day ready for their 3 hour dose of pig shit delivered by Rush Limbaugh, a locked in recurring audience corporate advertisers love because the sheep know constant reprogramming is a necessity. You can't guarantee that with us fickle Liberals.

[jwirr]

73. Liberals select their shows. The shows we are talking about in this thread

are the ones we watched before they started messing with the programing.

[Jim__]

59. I think comcast is deliberately driving down the ratings.

They'll switch to some type of faux-like network and claim nobody watched liberal TV.

[brooklynite]

66. Why go through the subterfuge?

If they want a conservative cable network, they can shut it down without notice and redesign the entire content. Radio stations do it all the time.

[Jim__]

72. One reason would be CYA.

If they change from liberal TV and lose viewers, the change was obviously motivated by political, rather than business, considerations. If they drive ratings of liberal tv way down, the switch looks like a sensible business decision, even if it doesn't succeed.

[Fred Sanders]

79. I have to agree...drive down ratings, switch to RW like they always intended to at the right time.

Nice cover.

[Blue_In_AK]

61. I'm not surprised.

Every time Chris Hayes leads with Trump, I immediately turn MSNBC off for the rest of the evening.

[66 dmhlt]

67. One reason it happened: C-O-M-C-A-S-T!

[True Blue American]

125. Amen!

[Stellar]

68. I think MSNBC is trying to spoon feed us Republic0n BullS***, to start a new competition with

FOX 'news'. I refuse to watch and even Rachel has been playing too much Trump.

There has to be another news source I can watch. I hope you guys can share another Liberal news program I can watch.

[olddots]

74. A problem we face as critical thinkers

is that we are not an easy marketing group to sell crappy products too.Do you buy into big pharma's bullshit or ads for reverse morgages and Vegas Time Shares and shiny gold coins ?
Commercial TV and radio are funded by products that appeal to non critical thinkers .

IT HURTS TO BE HIP .

[jberryhill]

84. I took a look a the commercials on Fox a while back, and, yeah

It was like tuning into a late night UHF channel from 30 years ago.

They have shit for sale "for three easy payments of $19.99" in prime time. Yeeech.

[spanone]

83. they didn't switch to news, they switched to trumpteevee

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

87. soon even the commercials on MSNBC will feature trump

They'll show his bare feet for the Amopee foot rejuvenaor or tell people to ask Donald Trump about Victoza.

[Bluenorthwest]

111. It amazes me that DUers do not notice...Trump is not just a Republican candidate, he's a Republican

candidate who has been an NBC on air personality for the last 11 years. He's in house at MSNBC.

[NYCButterfinger]

85. Leave Mitchell alone.

She's a good journalist. Todd is too rightist. MSNBC was powerful in 2008 and 2009.

[TheKentuckian]

92. Andrea Greenspan sucks ass.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

113. Please.

Mrs Greenspan is a water carrier for "Wall Street above all else!!!" types everywhere.

[oldandhappy]

86. Same story hour after hour is not news.

I bring up Al Jazeera on my computer and count it good. On TV -- well if you twist my arm I will admit to StarTrek reruns!

[Hotler]

88. And Rachel is not that great. She wants to thing she is, but....

she's not.

[livetohike]

89. They need to start over. Get rid of everyone and find some talent

that isn't stale. They need to get rid of Lock Up, etc and provide news on the weekend.

They need a total makeover.

[cleanhippie]

95. I wish they would have more actual "news" of the world.

Not just pundits and politics all day long. Every show is just a continuation of the show before. It's repetitive and boring. They all are!

[lpbk2713]

98. I still think of them as the network that dumped Phil Donahue.

They never had much going for them AFAIC.

[True Blue American]

126. You are not alone. Donahue

I watched his News Casts here in Dayton on Channel 7, watched his first show on NBC here,starring Madeline Murray O'Hair and Bob Harrington, the Chaplain of Bourbon Street.

Watched him move to Chicago,end that show, hired by MSNBC, fired because he was against the war. Then listened to him be vindicated because he was right about the war.

[DAMANgoldberg]

99. CNN has a Trump problem...

CNN does the same thing MSNBC is do, rehashing the same lead stories with different presenters (I know, that term is an European manner of newscasters, but with few exceptions, CNN anchors are presenters in the sense of the word, as opposed to reporters).

The weekend lineups of live news (Victor Blackwell/Christi Paul, Fredericka Whitfield, and Poppy Harlow) are less guilty of this, more of international stories that generally don't involve North Korea and Iraq. You also have Smerconish, Fareed Zakaria, and Dr. Sanjay Gupta, which broadens the discussion. MSNBC fills their brief weekend lineup with Steve Kornacki and Melissa-Harris Perry.

[SoCalDem]

109. 25-54 year olds are too busy working to watch much tv these days

Now we "liberal geezers" have little reason to watch MSNBC

Fox gives reactionary racists plenty to watch//

[AngryOldDem]

110. It's unwatchable.

It's all Trump, all the time. They seem to be one of his biggest backers, with all the freaking nonstop coverage.

Talk about screwing yourself over -- MSNBC had a guaranteed audience.

And who the hell ever said that the media is "liberal"? This kind of confirms who's REALLY in charge of news channels.

[lonestarnot]

114. Free Speech TV now.