Is Repurposing The Future Of CNBC's Prime?

An e-mailer reacts to yesterday's word that McEnroe will probably be replaced by Conan O'Brien repeats on CNBC: "'Repurposing' of original content aired on NBC is probably the wave of the future for CNBC. In all likelihood, the economics of repurposing will simply be too compelling for CNBC (evenings) to continue to create much original content. Bottom line: Original content costs too much and off-bcast shows rate sufficiently high."

But "CNBC still pays for everything it airs," an insider points out. CNBC has to pay to run Conan repeats, just like Comedy Central does. "It's not like you're just moving reruns to the channel and it's free." Affiliates don't love it, either.

The e-mailer notes that "the more creative minds at CNBC/NBC would have been able to make a go of CNBC (evenings) as something other than a glorified VCR," and that a "universe of more creative alternatives will be ignored because a succession of half-wits have run CNBC into the ground." So what's your alternative? E-mail tvnewser@mediabistro.com or use the anonymous tip form.

Has Rick Sanchez Brought Energy To CNN A.M.?

"Nice to see some chemistry developing between Daryn Kagan and Rick Sanchez," an e-mailer observes today. Rick started anchoring the CNN late-morning slot earlier this month. "There has been something different on air at CNN during the Daryn and Rick show [and] finally figured it out. It's energy." "He looks like he's actually excited to come to work in the morning," one TVSpy commenter says. But another person is unimpressed: "I guess this guy is an acquired taste...one I will never acquire."

Stewart "Said What A Lot Of People Think"

Eric Burns writes about the Crossfire/Stewart saga: "He said what a lot of people think. He said what a conventional journalist would never dare say. And he said what the cable ranters say so frequently: that their comments have lost any meaning by now." More...

As New Season Begins, Brokaw's Lead Widens

The AP dissects the nightly news ratings today, with a back-and-forth between Steve Capus and Jon Banner. "Tom Brokaw is giving Brian Williams a clear head start as he prepares to pass the baton on NBC's 'Nightly News,'" the story says...

What's The Result Of A "Fixation On Facts?"

In a recent mediabistro.com column, New York Press research editor Lionel Beehner wonders why fact-checking has become the "journalistic equivalent of a USDA seal of approval" this election cycle. "Hasn't it always been the duty of news organizations to fact check what's said instead of simply regurgitating all the bunk and spin put out by the campaigns?," he asks.

Beehner quotes a network news producer who points out that all the fact checking doesn't deter candidates from their dishonesty: "You've heard lots of the same stuff from the campaign trail that's wrong and it's still wrong and they're still undeterred."

The Ticker: Xfire...Hannity/Cheney...CBS Glitch...

> Crossfire is still enjoying a ratings boost in the wake of Friday's Jon Stewart show. On Tuesday the program averaged 675,000 viewers. (Its Q3 average was 550k.)

> Peter Jennings says the Daily Show's jokes are "reminiscent of how we talk in the newsroom but don't put on the air." (Via Romenesko)

> Sean Hannity's Fox News interview with Dick Cheney is getting wide play.

> Whoops!: Did anyone else notice this glitch on Tuesday's CBS Early Show? It lasted for about three seconds... (Thanks Alan)

Insert "Democracy On Ice" Joke...

MSNBC has started broadcasting from Democracy Plaza in NYC, but there's one problem -- it's windy and freezing, since their booth is not enclosed. "So MSNBC staffers were scrambling yesterday to alter the studio," the NYDN's Richard Huff reports. Spokesman Jeremy Gaines says the booth will be enclosed in glass over the course of the next week...
> Joe Trippi calls the set "really cool -- (and very cold)."

Jennings Talks About Objectivity, Fairness

It seems this "notion of objectivity" is coming up at every stop on Peter Jennings' heartland tour this week. Peter tells the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that he hopes the "era of objective journalism" is not coming to an end, and recalls the advice of his father: "He said, 'You try to be objective, but it's more important you be fair.' Objectivity is hard. [As a journalist] you train yourself to put your biases over there on the side, but let's never pretend we don't have them."

O'Reilly Sex Suits: Early Morning Media Wrapup

> Bill O'Reilly's attorney, Ronald Green, made the rounds Wednesday to say "put up or shut up." He appeared on ABC's GMA, but cancelled a scheduled appearance on MSNBC's Countdown... Details...

> Frank Rich's column is out: "Everyone is now so busy matching Mr. O'Reilly's alleged after-hours oratory - none of which he or his lawyer immediately denied - with his past condemnations of Janet Jackson, Ludacris, wet T-shirt contests, Joycelyn Elders and the televised Madonna-Britney smooch that the findings could fill another Starr report."

> Mackris's complaint has become the "most popular viewing page in [TheSmokingGun.com's] seven-year history," Tina Brown says, even surpassing documents about Kobe Bryant.

> WP's Richard Cohen on the "nonsense factor:" "...It also seems true, though, that Mackris either skipped classes in common sense when she was at Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism or was playing O'Reilly like the proverbial violin."

Highlights of NBC's Democracy Plaza

...Include a "stadium-sized" TV screen, a giant jigsaw puzzle of America, and red and blue lights on the side of the GE building to signify how many electoral votes each candidate has earned. One competitor is calling it "democracy on ice," the AP reports. "The skating surface will be transformed into a huge map, with puzzle pieces of each state colored red or blue for President Bush or John Kerry put in place when results are clear." "I think it will take three people to carry Texas," Mark Lukasiewicz says...

> Hardball with Chris Matthews started broadcasting from the set on Wednesday...

"Fox v. Franken" At Hamptons Film Fest

"Al Franken and Fox News Channel will duke it out on the big screen when Court TV and Sundance Channel present Fox v. Franken at the Hamptons Film Festival Oct. 23," Broadcasting & Cable reports. "The film looks at the role of copyright law, and First Amendment protection of satire by revisiting Franken's court battle with Fox News Channel over the use of the phrase 'Fair & Balanced.'"