A Pale Male protester who was arrested Monday for allegedly stalking Paula Zahn was ordered by a judge to "stay at least 1,000 feet" from the CNN anchor and her family on Wednesday. According to Newsday, "Karim's attorney, Dino Lombardi, said Karim was only 'exercising his right of vigorous free speech on a public controversy' when he approached Zahn and her sons, 7 and 11...

Well that didn't take long. "Engineers began taking apart the CNNfn set 30 minutes after the network went dark," a CNN insider tells TVNewser. "A group of anchors and producers drinking champagne had to move aside for a motorized scaffold rolling down the hallway to take the lights down."

> "The channel is currently simulcasting CNN International programming before closing down entirely at 23:59:59 on Wednesday night," Digital Spy reports.

Courtesy an anonymous viewer, here are several video clips from CNNfn's last day. They are all WMV files:

> The CNNfn sign-off (6.87mb)

> Final CNNfn open (1.24mb)

> "Dolans Unscripted" bloopers (3.53mb)

> "Open House" finale (916kb)

CNNfn staffers gathered for a final farewell on the set this afternoon. "There are plenty of tears of course, but we were roaring with laughter at some of the clips," Street Sweep anchor and CNN correspondent Christine Romans says in an e-mail to TVNewser. "I had forgotten about an opening bell shot where some Indian dancers were behind me and Jack Cafferty was laughing so hard he couldn't breathe. Very funny stuff."

Romans says she had a ball covering the opening and closing bells on Wall Street. "I learned how to anchor on this network, cut my teeth of some really big stories here, and will miss everyone who works here," she writes...

CNNfn is saying goodbye this hour, with an hour-long retrospective. The network will sign off at 2pm.

CNN.com features a video reel of highlights: "A look back at the network's nine years -- from the beginning to breaking news, fun times and on-air bloopers."

When Ali Velshi announced the network's closing on-air in October, it hit him hard.

"If I didn't know how I felt about the show, and the people behind it, and the viewers who watched it, I learned that day," he recalls. "I cried after the show that day. I'll miss it."

Velshi anchored Your Money until it went off the air last month, and The Money Gang until it concluded yesterday. He is on assignment in LA, so he called in during "the final minutes of the final broadcast of Money Gang on Tuesday to say goodbye to friends: "The production team who had saved me from myself hundreds of times; my co-anchor and friend Pat Kiernan, with whom I've shared war coverage, corporate swindling, and stock call-ins; and most of all the viewers who, over the past few years, really became our friends.

"Pat and I took calls and emails from viewers for an hour a day, every day. We acted as traffic cop between our viewers and our expert guests. Along that road we learned familiar names, and got scolded for talking too much and too fast, learned from our viewers, and hopefully helped a few of them make some money. At worst, we may have saved a few of them from losing money."

"Sad doesn't even begin to describe how we feel."

In a CNNmoney.com commentary, managing editor Allan Wastler says adieu. He calls CNNfn "scrappy:" "It had the underdog's sense of optimism and purpose, which ultimately produced some great TV. And the network provided some of the best hurry-up offense coverage of major business events...from Asia meltdowns to hedge fund panics to corporate bankruptcies."

He notes that not all the programming will disappear today. "You will see some of the CNNfn stalwarts, like 'The Dolans Unscripted' and 'CNNfn's Open House,' on CNN and Headline News. And shows that played on both CNN and CNNfn, like 'Lou Dobbs Tonight' and 'In the Money,' will remain. And some of the other bits and pieces that made up CNNfn's broadcasting day will likely resurface on its sister channels as well. More...

It's not just a network signing off the air today: It's the men and women who make it all happen. TVNewser asked several CNNfn employees to reflect on their experiences at the network, and their comments will be posted throughout the day.

Alturo Rhymes, a producer for "Market Call," said he will be "forever grateful to CNNfn for allowing me the opportunity to try and expand our audience and focus, strengthen my production skills and have fun all at the same time."

Rhymes came to CNNfn in 2000. "I was looking for a challenge and wanted to learn new things," he said. "We had a lot of fun covering stories as serious as the economic fallout from 9/11 to saying good-bye to Bozo the Clown on his last day of broadcast."

"Personally, as the only African-American producer at CNNfn, I have to give great credit to my Executive Producer, Warren Lewis and the management team for allowing [us] to expand our scope to such topics as America's Economic Divide and Poverty in America. I believe these socio-economic issues are vital to understanding how money impacts our daily lives for better or for worse."

> Chicago Sun-Times profiles the women of CNN's "On The Story" today. "Everyone knows her beats and, word for word, it would be hard to argue that gender colors the analysis of the news..."

> In the Observer, Joe Hagan asks "a bunch of bloggers, writers, comedians, musicians and TV personalities to see what they would do with CBS News, if they were in Mr. Moonves’ seat..."

> Rush & Molloy recap "Catholic League President William Donohue's comments on MSNBC's 'Scarborough Country' the other night" (last week).

"FNC's latest jab at its competition is a Christmastime take-off on It's a Wonderful Life," Johnny Dollar blogs. "The FNC version, It's a Wonderful Place, stars John Gibson and Steve Doocy." It's a must-see video...

CNN's financial news network will sign off the air at 2pm today. "As we say goodbye, CNNfn will air a day long anniversary show covering the last ten years," CNNmoney.com says.

> Dec. 9: "CNNfn Slowly Pulls The Plug..."

> Oct. 28: "CNNfn to Shut Down In December"

Zell Miller will begin in his new role as Fox News contributor on January 6, four days after his Senate term ends. "He's colorful. He's an interesting guy," FNC VP Kevin Magee tells the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "He's good on TV. He's strong in his opinions. He's not wishy-washy about telling you how he feels."

Is Magee referring to Miller's incendiary interview with Chris Matthews during the GOP convention in September? In case you've forgotten about the duel, here is the video, along with some blog posts about it...

> Lisa de Moraes says "the fire-and-brimstone-preaching Dixiecrat" has been "welcomed with open arms" by FNC.

"A bird lover distraught over the destruction of a hawk's nest at an Upper East Side co-op was arrested Tuesday for allegedly stalking one of the building's celebrity tenants, CNN anchor Paula Zahn," Newsday reports. 43-year-old Lincoln Karim, an APTN employee, "was charged with harassing Zahn, her husband, Richard Cohen, or their two sons, ages 7 and 11, in four incidents outside the building," sources told the AP. "CNN did not immediately return a call seeking comment."

"NBC insiders tell FTVLive that Amy Rosenblum, executive producer of NBC Universal's Maury has been hired as a consultant to NBC's Today Show," the subscription site "reports" today. (Not coincidently, Rosenblum's new assignment was the subject of a TVSpy thread yesterday.)

This isn't breaking news though, and it's certainly not the "exclusive" FTV says it is. The appointment was announced internally two weeks ago, according to Michele Greppi, who broke the news in TV Week last week. Broadcasting & Cable followed up the next day. The trade mags deserve some credit.

"Could we soon see Katie talking to 'sisters that are married' and 'kids that got their Mon (Ed: I think he means Mom) pregnant?,'" FTV asks. No: "Rosenblum shouldn't be confused with a bottom-feeding tabloid producer," B&C pointed out. And Rosenblum was profiled as one of the "hardest working people in showbiz" last week...