Erik Sorenson, the one-time “CBS This Morning” and “CBS Evening News” EP who went on to run MSNBC from 1998-2004, has become an equity partner in Sucherman Consulting Group where he is COO.

Sucherman is a management consulting, executive search, and industry intelligence firm for the media and entertainment industries founded and run by Stuart Sucherman. “I am honored at the opportunity to partner with Stuart in owning and operating SCG,” says Sorenson. “I cannot think of a better team with whom to take this next step.”

SCG also announced it is expanding its Los Angeles office and launching SCG Industry Intelligence which will provide data and analysis about the media industry for clients which include ABC, ESPN, NBC, Telemundo and more.

More in the release after the jump…

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Former MSNBC president Erik Sorenson has been upped to chairman of the board of Vault.com, ceding the CEO title to Claude Sheer, former interim CEO at Beliefnet.com.

WebNewser has the memo Sorenson sent to his staff.

“For several years, I’ve reported on the changes sweeping our newsrooms,” writes ShopTalk/TVSPY.com editor Tom Petner today. “No one is immune. No job is ‘safe’…including mine.”

Petner’s full-time editing job is being eliminated to cut costs, according to former MSNBC President Erik Sorenson, CEO of ShopTalk/TVSPY parent company Vault.com. He says “it is not a decision I am taking lightly because [Tom] has been terrific…”

Instead, Petner’s “duties will be spread around to an internal team”, with Andrew Gauthier as “point man”, effective next Monday. Sorenson says he contemplated selling TVSPY, ShopTalk, and message boards Water Cooler and Sandbox. “But…I’ve decided to keep it all going but with a lower cost base.”

The AP’s David Bauder takes a look at the cable news landscape through the lens of an Obama White House. Frank Sesno, the former CNN Washington bureau chief and occasional on-air analyst says viewing habits shifted during the campaign. “The market has changed. I don’t think this is episodic. I think it is structural and real and probably permanent. People have learned new viewing habits and new news consumption habits,” Sesno says.

So does this mean good things for MSNBC? The former president of the network says maybe. Erik Sorenson says MSNBC should do better in quieter periods than it has in the past because of its clearer identity. “That said, the wrong guys won the election for MSNBC,” Sorenson says. “If McCain won, Keith [Olbermann] and Rachel [Maddow] would have a lot to talk about. The audience would have a lot to be angry about and focused on.”

— Earlier on TVNewser: What the cable nets will do to keep audiences tuned in…

• FNC: Jay Wallace: “Any time there’s a key story that’s out there…we always tend to retain more eyeballs than anyone else.”

• CNN: Jon Klein: It’s the economy…

• MSNBC: Phil Griffin: “We’ve got to keep doing what we’re doing.”