One of the best purely political programs on cable concludes its run tonight. Capital Report's final broadcast will air on CNBC tonight at 7pm.

The NBC News political unit tipped its hat to the program in its First Read newsletter this morning: "Our sincere thanks to CNBC's Capital Report for its contributions to NBC News' campaign coverage and to the overall discourse on American politics. We wish Glo, Alan, Steve, Catherine, Eamon, Karin, Lauren, Hakimah and Kendall a great last show tonight." The Hotline tipped its "cap" to the show today, as well. Tom Brokaw and Tim Russert will appear on tonight's final program...

> Sept. 30: First on TVNewser: "CNBC Cancels 'Capital Report'"

> Oct. 27: "Conan Repeats To Replace CNBC's 'Capital Report'"

"CBS News has axed a news producer who cut into prime-time programming Wednesday night to report the death of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat," B&C's Alison Romano reports. "The staffer, a female senior producer for CBS’s overnight newscast Up to the Minute, broke in to CSI: N.Y. shortly before 11 p.m. with the report, outraging viewers who missed the end of the crime drama."

> Dan Abrams is taking over primetime on MSNBC tonight. In addition to his 6pm Report, he'll anchor Peterson verdict coverage between 9 and 11pm.

> "Lester Holt anchored NBC Network coverage," an e-mailer says, "but isn't he usually gone on Friday?"

> Here's the fundamental difference between FNC and the other cablers: The passion. Trace wondered if Scott would "live or die," and Shep called him a "monster." Greta vividly described the emotions of the family members. Judge Napolitano described a "father who slaughtered his wife and baby." (Update: "The difference is that...FNC had tried and CONVICTED Scott before the trial ever began!," an e-mailer says.)

> Dismissed juror #5 Justin Falconer talked to CNN via phone after the verdict.

> Now for all the "should he be put to death?" debates...

> As the jury was polled, Shep Smith read observations from inside the courtroom, as forwarded by producers.

> Anybody else notice the gawkers standing outside the courtroom waving to the cameras while yapping on their cell phones?

> CNN.com and MSNBC.com posted the "Breaking News" within seconds of each other. (MSNBC.com even slapped it on a picture. Update: ...And here's the not guilty picture!) It look several minutes for FOXNews.com to post the news. CNN.com sent an alert less than one minute after the announcement....

> CNN is (appropriately) exploiting the fact that Ted Rowlands has covered the case from the very beginning. They hired him from S.F. affiliate KTVU...

> At 4pm: FNC's Shep Smith continued anchoring into the next hour. 'Live From' anchor Kyra Phillips continued to anchor on CNN.

> MSNBC's live vote at 4:05pm: "Will Scott Peterson be found guilty or not guilty?" 65% say guilty, 35% say not guilty with over 43,000 votes.

> CNN's Rusty Dornin and FNC's Greta Van Susteren are sending their networks messages via BlackBerry from inside the courtroom.

> FNC was ready: Trace Gallagher, Claudia Cowan and Lis Wiehl on site, with Andrew Napolitano in studio...

> Trace Gallagher talking about the audio feed: "The audio has been checked and rechecked, five and a half months worth. I gaurantee, Shep, this thing is going to work."

As observed by an e-mailer: "At 2:20 p.m. Fox's Trace Gallagher says the judge will be making an announcement "in one minute" and he's watching his BlackBerry for details. Fox goes to commercial. At a few seconde before 2:23, CNN's Rusty Dornan breaks the verdict story. Fox & MSNBC are in commercial. 30 seconds later, Fox goes to Alert and Gallagher reports verdict story. MSNBC still in commercial for several more minutes, until Natalie Allen says there has been a major development and throws to Dan Abrams. By this time, Fox's Gallagher and now Greta have recounted all details inside courtroom."
> "MSNBC was in a local break," an insider explains. "You can't break out of local breaks once the tones go out."

CNN representatives will discuss their secret NewsStream Live broadband channel at the Online News Association conference in Los Angeles this weekend.

"I know it will be discussed at the conference," an insider tells TVNewser, though the conversations may take place "behind closed doors," so to speak. Some CNNers had hoped the channel would premiere in the first quarter of 2005, but the project has been delayed. A broadband redesign of CNN.com is also moving forward...

TVNewser broke the news about the "24-hour broadband news channel for Internet users" last May. CNN head Jim Walton has hinted at plans for an online channel recently. "We are building for the future by ensuring that our brands and businesses are positioned for growth, and we are investing in new delivery platforms to provide consumers around the world with a broad range of CNN-branded content," he said when he announced CNNfn's demise last month. Stay tuned...

A retired network news staffer (call him the "alphabet man") writes in with an inside perspective of the CSI vs. Arafat issue: "It was my decision to ring down the network when breaking news happened," he writes. "I probably did it 50 times in 18 years. We had a number of guidelines on what qualified for breaking in. I did have to call the higher ups if time permitted -- but it was more of advising them, not seeking their consent."

"The basic rule was that the news had to be something that was new and unexpected. The Arafat story was important, but probably not interrupt worthy. His death wasn't a surprise."

"11pm on a network news desk isn't a real busy time -- so staffing is minimal at best. You think and act quickly because the phones are going nuts -- you're trying to get the story confirmed and covered, line up all the stuff that needs to happen for an interrupt and the affiliate feed, and you need to make at least one phone call to let at least one of your bosses know that something has happened."

"And then, once you get the interrupt on the air, you get the phone calls. A long, long time ago following an interrupt, we logged 400 phone calls in 25 minutes. We'd cut into a soap opera somewhere in the middle...So the CBS apology is meant to put out the fire and stop the phone calls. You might question the desk person/producer who called for the interrupt on whether the story merited the action, but I don't think you can fault his or her's instincts. Until you've sat in the chair and faced the question, you really have nothing but an uninformed opinion. There's way too much hand wringing going on over this."

> An insider sends along word that Katie Couric's producers in Redwood City, CA for the Scott Peterson trial have rented a mauve Jaguar and are "driving around acting like divas on the town instead of like journalists there to cover a story." Because deliberations aren't going on or anything...

> Note to the NBC insider who e-mailed in yesterday: Could you explain this in more detail?: "If Zucker makes the changes we all think he will at CNBC..."

> Michael Jackson called into Fox News on Thursday to "thank my fans for their strong support." Who'd he talk to? Geraldo Rivera, of course! (And it qualified as a Fox News Alert!)

> Paula Zahn's special edition of 'Now' last night -- called "Cosby's Take," featuring an interview with the star -- garnered quite a bit of media attention.

> New (old?) rule: Any time a gossip column floats the notion that a pundit is re-negotiating his contract and may jump ship, another gossip column must run the "he's just trying to squeeze more money out of his employer" response.

> From an e-mailer: "Peter Jennings was interrupted mid-breaking news out of Ramallah crowds by the GMA cuetone. As of 7:34, they're running a Diane Sawyer 'Missing White Woman' package. Oh the rage ABC will face when Jennings realizes how badly they screwed him! Shame on GMA!" Jennings reported from the region while Brokaw and Rather stayed home...
> "CNN's coverage was quite good with Michael Holmes and Jon Vause in Ramallah -- and PLO adviser Ashrawi on hand to color commentate," a viewer says.
> "The dumbest question during this Arafat coverage has to come from the multi-million dollar woman Katie Couric. She asked Brian Williams, 'Is there an Israeli Security presence in Palestine?' Hello? Where has Katie been? Brian just chuckled and politely informed her that they wouldn't even be allowed to cross the gate to get to Palestine. Unreal."
> Brian Williams anchored MSNBC coverage beginning at 4am ET.

> WP's Lisa de Moraes frames it perfectly: "In what may be a network first, CBS has apologized for beating its broadcast competitors to a breaking news story."

> LR's Cory Bergman responds to these e-mailers: "These people clearly live in a fantasy land. Even if you don't consider the viewer fallout, think about the local affiliates just minutes away from reporting the same exact story. CBS took the air out of their sails, and the local stations are in sweeps."

> "How many times in this past week had Arafat died? How long have we been expecting this? It's not like even the "real deal" was a surprise," Chuck writes.