And then there were four. Teams that is. The NCAA March Madness basketball tournament is nearing its conclusion, with only four teams left vying for the championship.

With the end in sight, it is a good time to check in our TVNewser Bracket Challenge. Joe Kernen has held on to the top spot, although the competition is fierce. Randi Kaye, Brooke Baldwin, Liz MacDonald and Kyra Phillips are all right behind him, with a number of others still within striking distance.

In last place at the moment, regrettably, is your TVNewser editor. This is what happens when you go to a Division III school.

Update: On “Squawk Box” this morning, Kernen noted that he was in first place in the TVNewser challenge, and took issue with me for not posting an update late last week.

WATCH (6:30 in):

The Final Four games will be played next weekend, with the championship set for April 2.

The full rankings, after the jump.

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Have you been watching some of the first round games? Holy moly. Lehigh? Ohio? Norfolk State? Suffice it to say a lot of brackets are in trouble, and our TV news competition is no exception.

Right now NBC’s Rome Hartman (our 2010 champion) is tied for first with CNN’s Randi Kaye, with Kyra Phillips nipping at their heels. Most of the competitors are in the middle of the pack, with CNN’s Fredricka Whitfield and CNBC’s John Melloy at the bottom. Have no fear though, there is plenty of time to make up ground.

The full standings are after the jump.

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Spring is in the air, and that can only mean two things: March Madness and TVNewser’s 2012 bracket challenge.

Every March we have TV news talent, executives and producers fill out their brackets and make their picks, with the winner receiving the ultimate prize: bragging rights.

Last year’s champion–Bloomberg TV’s Dominic Chu–is back to defend his crown, but there is some steep competition from across the TV news spectrum.

Game on.

Here is your 2012 TVNewser March Madness lineup:

Team Bloomberg TV:

Returning champ: Dominic Chu, markets reporter, Bloomberg TV

Cory Johnson, editor-at-large, Bloomberg TV

Stephanie Ruhle, correspondent, Bloomberg TV

Team Fox News/Fox Business Network:

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As Randi Kaye takes over as anchor of CNN’s weekend morning show, the network has also named a new executive producer for the program, Nora Zimmett.

Zimmett joins CNN from Bloomberg TV, where she was a senior producer in Los Angeles. Before joining Bloomberg, she worked as a producer at HDNet and Fox News Channel.

Bryan Bell is also moving to CNN’s Atlanta bureau as the executive producer of the 9-11amET hours of “CNN Newsroom.” Bell, who has been with CNN for more than a decade, has spent the last six years as a member of the senior production team of CNN’s morning programming.

CNN is shifting its dayside anchor lineup.

As our sister blog FishbowlDC first reported, Carol Costello will be moving to Atlanta and taking over the 9-11 AM shift, while Kyra Phillips loses one hour of anchor time, and moves to 11AM-noon. Suzanne Malveaux is moving back an hour and anchoring from noon-2 PM. Randi Kaye, who had been filling in on the morning shift, will become the permanent anchor in the morning on Saturday and Sunday.

Read more at FishbowlDC here.

The funeral for Whitney Houston will take place on Saturday in Newark, New Jersey, and while it is private, cable news is planning extensive coverage.

The funeral will be streamed online at the AP’s livestream page, so fans can bypass cable news if they so choose. In addition, users can expect to watch the AP stream on many news sites including FoxNews.com and CNN.com (even though CNN does not subscribe to AP content, the AP’s coverage is pool coverage, so CNN can use it). Those that do turn on their TV’s will have a number of options.

CNN seems to have the most comprehensive coverage lined up, with Piers Morgan, Don Lemon and Soledad O’Brien anchoring from 11:30 AM-2 PM. Saturday and Sunday evening Dr. Sanjay Gupta and Randi Kaye will host primetime specials looking at Houston’s life.

Fox News will be covering the funeral live from 11:30 AM-2PM, with Jon Scott and Uma Pemmaraju anchoring in New York. Kelly Wright will report from outside the church in Newark.

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It’s all hands on deck for the cable news networks, even though many of those hands will be in the path of Hurricane Irene (satellite image above from 2:17pmET.)

• Fox News is planning to preempt the business block tomorrow from 10am-NoonET as well as “Huckabee,” and Jeanine Pirro tomorrow night. “Fox & Friends” goes on an hour early. And Shepard Smith will be in to anchor much of the weekend coverage.

• CNN, which has its weekend programming originate from Atlanta, is planning extended coverage Saturday night from 8pmET-Midnight anchored by Kyra Phillips (whose fiance John Roberts is covering Irene from the Outer Banks for FNC) and Martin Savidge. Wolf Blitzer will anchor a 3-hour “Situation Room” from Washington Saturday from 5pm-8pmET. (Regular weekend night anchor Don Lemon is in Philadelphia where he’ll do a Q&A with TVNewser’s Gail Shister at the annual NLGJA conference tomorrow.) CNN is back on the air at 5am Sunday with T.J. Holmes, Candy Crowley picks up at 9am and NoonET, Fredricka Whitfield as usual in the afternoons and Sunday night programming from 6pmET-Midnight with Randi Kaye and Savidge.

• MSNBC’s Chris Jansing will anchor “Hardball” tonight at 5pm & 7pm, with a Hurricane focus. Thomas Roberts is on from 10pmET-Midnight. The network, which normally goes to tape on Saturdays and Sundays at NoonET will be in extended coverage all weekend. Veronica De La Cruz anchors early mornings, Alex Witt anchors until Noon, Tamron Hall from Noon-5pmET, Jansing from 5-10pmET and Roberts picks up at 10pm.

And it will be an especially long weekend for all the newsers who live and work in New York City. Mass transit (subways, buses, commuter railroads) in New York City and the suburbs will be shut down as of Noon tomorrow.

TMZ chief Harvey Levin took to Twitter to attack his corporate cousins at CNN over the Arnold Schwarzenegger mistress story (TMZ and CNN are both owned by Time Warner).

TMZ broke the name of Schwarzenegger’s mistress yesterday, and Levin went on CNN to talk about the latest from the case. A producer at the time apparently told him not to name the woman.

Today, Levin appeared again, and this time the woman’s name was mentioned… with anchor Randi Kaye specifically citing the New York Times:

We should also point out, we’re not naming the child in this case, of course. We should also tell you it was the New York Times that we are giving credit for Mildred ”Patty Baena,” the name of the mistress that is coming to us. Harvey, thank you.

Levin visibly furrowed his brow after Kaye cited the Times.

It was at that point he took to Twitter, writing:
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The tables will be turned on CNN anchor Don Lemon today. He’ll be a guest on CNN Newsroom around 1:15pmET with Randi Kaye asking the questions about his new book Transparent — a book that was meant to be an inspirational guide, but changed focus when Lemon realized he couldn’t leave out one major fact about himself — he’s gay. Bill Carter writes in the New York Times

When he informed the publisher of his new tack, the initial reaction was caution. But when the editors saw the material, they embraced it.

“I abhor hypocrisy,” Lemon says. “I think if you’re going to be in the business of news, and telling people the truth, of trying to shed light in dark places, then you’ve got to be honest. You’ve got to have the same rules for yourself as you do for everyone else.”

Last September, in the midst of writing this book, Lemon revealed on air that he’d been sexually abused as a child.

And while it took Lemon 45 years and a book to come out, he says every other gay news personality needs to make the decision on their own time. “I think it would be great if everybody could be out,” Lemon tells Carter. “But it’s such a personal choice. People have to do it at their own speed. I respect that.”

In addition to appearing on CNN today, Lemon will discuss with HLN’s Joy Behar tonight.

The cable networks are planning special coverage around Pres. Obama’s fiscal responsibility address at George Washington University this afternoon.

On CNN, Wolf Blitzer, along with Randi Kaye, lead coverage beginning at 1pmET. Ed Henry at the White House, Dana Bash on Capitol Hill and Gloria Borger and Christine Romans take part as well. Fox News’s Martha MacCallum, in for Megyn Kelly who is about to give birth any minute, will anchor coverage. Mike Emanuel will report from the White House. On MSNBC, the speech falls during Andrea Mitchell‘s show. She’ll anchor and be joined by Rachel Maddow.

NBC and CBS will not be carrying the speech live on TV. ABCNews.com will livestream it and ABC NewsOne will make it available to affiliates. FNC’s Jon Scott anchors a special report that is optional for FOX affiliates.