Current TV

Current TV considers itself a direct competitor to MSNBC, and indeed both channels are targeting a very similar audience. That competition isn’t stopping MSNBC host Dylan Ratigan from appearing as a guest on Current TV however. Ratigan taped an interview with California Lt. Governor and Current host Gavin Newsom for the second episode of Newsom’s program, which will be televised Friday at 11 PM.

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Jennifer Granholm is four months into her television career as host of “The War Room” on Current TV. The former Michigan governor talks to the Atlantic Wire about who else in the business she admires:

My favorite journalists are Christiane Amanpour, Maria Bartiromo, Rachel Maddow and the person everyone looks up to, Tim Russert, God rest his soul. I admire them all but I don’t really even pretend to be a journalist myself. I’m just an ex-governor hosting a show with an opinion. One of the challenges for me, that traditional journalists don’t really have, is interviewing people whom I agree with.  People know I’m a Democrat and I’m not going to hide what I believe. So playing devil’s advocate is a little difficult.

On his Current TV show last night, Cenk Uygur was discussing the group Color of Change and how Bill O’Reilly had referred to groups like it, as fascists. “Alright Bill — you want to play name-calling games?,” said Uygur. “No problem. You are a goddamn Nazi. That’s what you are, OK? You’re going to call us fascists all day long, and we’re not going to respond? Well, those days are over, Nazi.”

No response from the O’Reilly camp, but it’s possible he could say something on his show tonight. The ADL has come down hard on any comparison or usage of the term saying it has no place in political discourse.

It appears Uygur’s making the targeting of other cable news anchors a thing. Last night he also went after CNN host Erin Burnett, “who makes about 2 million dollars a year,” for challenging the Buffett rule. “I’m glad CNN did a fair and balanced report on that,” Uygur said sarcastically. Watch after the jump…

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Current TV, which has made a habit out of hiring former elected officials to host its programming, is adding a current one to its lineup. The channel says that it has tapped California’s Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom to host a weekly program, starting in May.

Newsom drew national attention as the Mayor of San Francisco, a position he leveraged into the Lt. Governorship. During his years as mayor, from 2001-2006 Newsom was married to former prosecutor Kimberly Guilfoyle, now host of Fox News’ “The Five.”

His new program will be called “The Gavin Newsom Show,” and will feature interviews with “notables from Silicon Valley, Hollywood and beyond.” Mia Haugen, a former CNN producer, will serve as EP.

Newsom will not be leaving public office, and will be paid a salary by Current, although it will be donated to charity, according to Brian Stelter.

“Gavin Newsom is a courageous leader who has boldly seized every opportunity to create positive social change,” commented Current TV Chairman and former Vice President Al Gore in a statement. “First as a successful entrepreneur, then in his role as Mayor of San Francisco, and now as Lieutenant Governor, Newsom touches many worlds – business, politics, entertainment and activism. We are honored that Current TV will be bringing his curiosity, intelligence, insights and enthusiasm to television.”

More information in Current’s announcement, after the jump.

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As expected (again) Current TV has counter-sued Keith Olbermann, laying out its argument that it was Olbermann who was in breach of contract, and not network executives.

Just as Olbermann portrayed Current executives in a negative light in his filing, Current paints Olbermann as an ego-maniacal jerk in its filing.

Current argues that Olbermann refused to promote the network or its shows, and would order staff not to promote “Countdown” when he wasn’t anchoring. It also pulled some embarrassing emails and events from Olbermann’s tenure at the network. After a picture of the “Countdown” set leaked to the press by the designer, Olbermann asked Current CEO Joel Hyatt “Can you assassinate him, please?” Another incident saw Olbermann throw a glass mug against the wall of the studio, shattering it.

The full suit is embedded after the jump.

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As expected, former Current TV host Keith Olbermann filed suit against his former employer, and he minces no words in the complaint, calling the executives at the channel “dilettantes” and going into detail about the technical problems that are known to have plagues his program. The lawsuit took aim squarely at Current’s CEO Joel Hyatt, who it painted as unprofessional and unprepared.

The lawsuit also alleges that Current promised Olbermann editorial control over his program’s website, but that shortly after hiring him signed a new distribution deal with an MSO that restricted the amount of material Current could put online.

Olbermann’s full complaint is embedded after the jump.

In a statement responding to the lawsuit, Current was equally harsh, saying that the facts are on its side, and ending by saying “We hope Mr. Olbermann understands that when it comes to the legal process, he is actually required to show up.”

The Current statement is also after the jump. Update: Current has responded with a suit of its own, also after the jump.

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Reuters’ Peter Lauria reports that Current TV could be pulled from Time Warner Cable is certain ratings benchmarks are not met.

If Current TV misses the audience benchmark in two consecutive quarters, another clause is triggered that would allow Time Warner Cable to drop the channel. The condition was built into the most recent distribution pact between the two parties, which was signed in 2010.

“Time Warner Cable has been flirting with the idea of pulling Current off its systems for some time now,” said one of the sources, who all spoke on condition of anonymity.

Of course, Time Warner can’t just “flirt” with pulling Current, as Current would have to fail to meet ratings benchmarks for two straight quarters, and that wouldn’t trigger any sort of automatic drop. In other words, even if Current failed to meet the minimum benchmarks in this current quarter, it wouldn’t be pulled from TWC systems anytime soon.

A spokesperson for Current said that the channel was not at risk of being dropped by any carrier;

“We do not discuss the terms of our distribution agreements because they are confidential.  We are in compliance with all our distribution agreements. And all our agreements are long-term agreements with 2 to 5 years remaining on their terms.  We are not at any risk of losing any of our distribution agreements.”

So what are Current’s ratings? While it is too soon to determine how Eliot Spitzer is doing at 8 PM, we can look at the network’s other programs.

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A contrite Keith Olbermann took the blame for failing viewers and his staff after the abrupt cancellation of his show and his firing from Current TV last week.

“I screwed up,” Olbermann told David Letterman. “I screwed up really big on this.”

“It’s my fault that it didn’t succeed in the sense that I didn’t think the whole thing through,” said Olbermann. Letterman ticked off the recent reports about Olbermann’s brief time at final days at Current: the car service, the Super Tuesday no show, the money left on the table. (On that last point, Olbermann says he’s hired the lawyer that represented Conan O’Brien during his separation from NBC.)

Olbermann revealed he’d thought about leaving just days into his show going on the air. “I was thinking about that as early as last July,” he said.

Olbermann got emotional talking about the staffers who’d followed him from MSNBC, and other networks, for his job as host and Chief News Officer at Current.

“They put their careers at risk for me and I didn’t get a chance to say good-bye to them or thank them for the work they did with me and I’m… you know, I’m so proud of them because the show editorially was never better but I let them down because it didn’t continue.”

Letterman gave Olbermann a business card with interchangeable networks while Olbermann presented Letterman with a button that read: “Better watch now because things could go wrong in a hurry,” a line Olbermann delivered during a Top 10 list last Fall.

“Where will you go now?” asked Letterman. “Well, I think you guys still have a car for me afterwards. I think I’ll just go home,” Olbermann joked. “I did notice there’s some nice lines out here in front of the theater every afternoon and this would be a good place to set up a shoe shine stand.”

A clip after the jump…

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After his appearance on the ”Late Show with David Letterman” this evening, Keith Olbermann Tweeted: “Lots of fun w/the best interviewer in the business – including when it gets serious.” Presumably this means Olbermann opens up his departure from Current TV last week. Interestingly, also on Letterman tonight, Allison Williams, the daughter of NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams, who is staring in the new HBO show “Girls.” (Allison, not Brian).

Back to Olbermann. Earlier today, the New York Post published parts of internal emails between Current TV president David Bohrman Olbermann’s manager, Michael Price, in the weeks leading up to Olbermann’s dismissal from the network.

[T]he final straw came … when the “Countdown” anchor threatened to take off the day before the all-important Super Tuesday primaries on March 6. Price was so adamant about getting his boss his precious vacation day that Bohrman was reduced to begging. “The night before Super Tuesday is a BIG night for us … I would hate to have our main anchor off on such a night. Can we slip this please?” Bohrman pleaded. Price then nagged the former CNN executive, asking him why it was so important for an anchor with a $50 million contract to broadcast during a major political event. “Please indicate, with specificity, why Keith is essential to that day,” Price taunted Bohrman.

More of Olbermann’s side of it tonight on “Late Show.” Speaking of which, it was also announced today that Letterman and “Late, Late Show” host Craig Ferguson have extended their CBS contracts for another two years – through 2014. Both series are produced by Letterman’s Worldwide Pants, Inc.

The unexpected debut of “Viewpoint with Eliot Spitzer” drew a disappointing 47,000 Total Viewers and 10,000 A25-54 viewers to Current TV on Friday night.

Spitzer’s debut ratings mark a drop from “Countdown with Keith Olbermann,” which averaged 152,000 Total Viewers and 42,000 A25-54 viewers for the month of March.

The 8pmET timeslot on Friday evening included CNN’s town-hall special “Beyond Trayvon: Race and Justice in America,” which placed second in the A25-54 demographic and third, behind MSNBC’s “The Ed Show,” in Total Viewers. Bill O’Reilly‘s Fox News program was first in both ratings measurements.