Anderson Cooper's Stalker is Staying Away

So far, so good.

The man who pleaded guilty to harassing Anderson Cooper has stayed away from the CNN anchor since getting out of jail last month.

The NY Daily News says that Alex Hausner, a self-described gay Christian conservative, is staying in a transitional shelter and has abided by the terms of his plea agreement with prosecutors, said his lawyer, Wendell Cruz.

After a brief hearing Tuesday before Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Charles Solomon, Hausner said he’d had nothing but “good intentions” for Cooper.

“I hope I didn’t trouble him,” the 38-year-old, who has a history of mental problems, said of the TV newsman.

Hausner pleaded guilty to menacing and aggravated harassment last month after spending nine months in lockup while awaiting trial.

Under the terms of his deal, he’ll get what amounts to time served in jail plus five years probation if he stays out of trouble for a year.

He also has to stay away from Cooper and his partner, Benjamin Maisani. Prosecutors said he’d tormented the pair with unwanted phone calls and visits.

BriWi Back on Top

After some demo losses and some close calls, NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams increased their ratings lead last week over ABC's World News.

Last week, Nightly posted the biggest gain in total viewers year to year (+950,000) and widened its advantage over ABC by +3%. The  NBC broadcast also improved its total viewer lead over ABC by +4% versus the current 2Q'13-to-date average.

Season-to-date, Nightly is posting its biggest total viewer audience (9.278 million) since the 2005-06 season and its largest advantage over ABC (+1.106 million) since the 2009-10 season.

Nightly continues to demonstrate the largest total viewer growth this season among the evening newscasts, gaining +586,000 viewers (+7%) versus the same period last season and widening its lead over ABC by +40%.

H/T Broadway World

One Week Later....

One week after a crazy guy crashed a dump truck into the station at WMAR (Channel 2), the staff posed for a picture in front of the temporary patched up front entrance holding up a sign that read "2 Strong."

Not exactly the same as dealing with bombs going off at the finish line of the Boston Marathon.... but you get the idea. 

MSNBC Hires New Host from Telemundo

Telemundo anchor José Díaz-Balart will join MSNBC’s weekday line-up next month.

Díaz-Balart will anchor MSNBC’s 10 a.m. hour live from Miami, Florida. He will begin in mid-June following the departure of Chris Jansing, who is heading to Washington as NBC News Sr. White House Correspondent. The announcement was made today by Phil Griffin, President of MSNBC.

Díaz-Balart currently co-anchors Telemundo’s “Noticiero Telemundo” and hosts “Enfoque con José Díaz-Balart,” roles in which he will continue to serve.

“It’s a great privilege for me to be able to be a part of the MSNBC team while continuing my work with my colleagues at Telemundo,” said Díaz-Balart. “I look forward to providing news and information in a dynamic and objective manner, while always recognizing America’s unique diversity.”

“MSNBC is committed to engaging new audiences and communities. To that end, I’ve been talking with José for several months about bringing his voice to MSNBC,” said Griffin.

We're just happy that Griffin took months to make the hire, instead of just 20 minutes.

Hopefully this hire will workout better. 

Zucker: CNN Moving Away from Missing Plane....sort of

CNN's Jeff Zucker says that his network is finally going to move away from the missing plane coverage. 

But not completely.

"I don't think there's any question about our commitment to breaking news, as evidenced by all the questions about the plane," he told New York Times television reporter Bill Carter. "So we're still there whenever that happens, but we're going to supplement that with some different kind of storytelling."

But, if you're looking for CNN to cover clement change, you can forget it..... it's a ratings dud. 

"Climate change is one of those stories that deserves more attention, that we all talk about," Zucker said, "but we haven't figured out how to engage the audience in that story in a meaningful way. When we do do those stories, there does tend to be a tremendous amount of lack of interest on the audience's part."

As for the CNN's way over the top missing plane coverage, Zucker still thinks it was the right call.

"If I take a step back from our coverage of the Malaysian plane's disappearance, I'm incredibly comfortable with it. I believed early on, right from the start, that it was an enormously important story: an American-made Boeing jet liner, with Rolls Royce engines with 239 people, disappears into thin air...That's why we devoted the resources that we did to it."

H/T CapitalNewYork

ABC Correspondent Posts Topless Photo

If FTVLive had our choice of which ABC Correspondent would post a topless photo....Gio Benitez would not be anywhere near the top of our list.

Benitez posted a picture of himself sans shirt at a birthday party in Central Park. He posted the picture to his instagram account. 

We would follow up by posting a shirtless photo as well, but we don't want Gio to feel bad.

So we'll just leave that one alone. 

ESPN Opens New Digital Facility

ESPN opened the doors on to its new digital production facility that will house the popular program 'SportsCenter' starting next month. 

Hartford Business writes that ESPN built the 194,000-square-foot facility, which it has dubbed Digital Center 2, with the help of up to $10 million in state tax credits.

The company spent more than $100 million to build the facility.

ESPN and the state had originally agreed on a $17.5 million loan and job-training assistance under the Department of Economic and Community Development's 'First Five'program.

Peter Yazbak, a spokesman for Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, said Monday that ESPN reevaluated its financial needs for the project and decided it would prefer to benefit from the Urban and Industrial Sites Reinvestment Tax Credit Program instead.

The tax credits can be earned over a 10-year period.

In exchange for the credits, the company has promised to create at least 200 jobs in Connecticut over the next three years. ESPN said it employs approximately 4,000 in the state today.

Digital Center 2 has four studios, six production control rooms and 26 edit rooms.

Big Ratings for Babs Goodbye

Barbara Walters’s farewell to “The View” last Friday was the fourth most-watched episode of the show she founded 17 years earlier.

The NY Daily News says that an estimated 5.189 million viewers tuned in for what Walters said will be her farewell to an on-air role with the show.

Her audience trailed only the 2010 appearance of President Barack Obama, the day-after analysis of the 2008 presidential election and the crowd for the March 2, 2009 East Coast snowstorm.

Walters, who turns 85 in September, was saluted on her final show by some two dozen of the best-known female TV hosts, including Diane Sawyer, Katie Couic and others.

Her guests were Hillary Clinton, Michael Douglas and Oprah Winfrey.

Walters’s next-to-last show on Thursday, which featured all 11 present and former “View” panelists, drew 4.2 million viewers.

Brokaw Bounces Back from Cancer Scare

NBC’s Tom Brokaw, diagnosed last summer with multiple myeloma, a cancer affecting blood cells in the bone marrow, says he is making a good recovery.

“I’ve been under intense treatment for about nine months now, and I’m gonna be okay,” the newsman, who is being treated at the Mayo Clinic, told Page Six at Monday’s Peabody Awards at the Waldorf Astoria. “I’ve got really good medical care.”

Brokaw went on to explain the shock of discovering his illness.

“I was blind-sided,” said Brokaw, 74. “It was the last thing I expected at this stage in my life, that I would end up with cancer. I spent the first half of last year bicycling across South America, in Africa, doing things. I come back, and, ‘Pow.’”

But First....Let's take a Selfie

A dictionary would have been very helpful for Fox News during its recent segment on dictionaries.

"Fox & Friends" made a not-so-discreet spelling error Monday morning during a segment on 150 new words recently added to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Among them: hashtag, spoiler alert, yooper, and...'selife'?

H/T HuffPo

When it comes to Storm Clouds....

....Size does matter. Just check out the size of WTEV Weatherman Mike Buresh's storm cloud.

Impressive.

Sports Anchor is F̶i̶r̶e̶d̶ Resigns After Arrest

WDAZ (Grand Forks) Sports Anchor Dan Corey was F̶i̶r̶e̶d̶ resigned from the station following his arrest for DUI.

Corey announced the news that he was leaving the station in a post on his blog, which ironically uses the tagline "Sports thoughts from a former janitor and pizza delivery boy, current sports TV guy."

A couple of jobs that he might have to go back to after his arrest. 

Corey posted his goodbye but never did mention his brush with the law. The closet he came was the line "Although it is not the way I wanted to end my run at WDAZ...."

From DC to Dallas

WJLA Reporter Jenny Doren announced on her Facebook page that she is headed to WFAA in Dallas.

She wrote: I am SO excited to announce this Chicagoan turned Washingtonian will soon become a Texan! I'm headed to the "Big D" in May to report for WFAA-TV. I'm extremely grateful for this opportunity and honored to join such a talented team, but will greatly miss my friends and coworkers here in D.C. You've been amazing to me. I will cherish all the memories and hope you follow me along on my new journey in Dallas.

Hanging it up in the Panhandle

Richard Nixon was Time Magazine's "Man of the Year." "Dirty Dozen" was number one at the box office. And a young news anchor splashed on the scene at WJHG (Panama City) NewsChannel Seven.

43 years later Joe Moore has decided to trade in the suit and tie for shorts and a t-shirt.

Let's go to the video.

Want to Give a Forecast on The Weather Channel?

Who wouldn't want to tour The Weather Channel's studios, meet the company's CEO, and give an on-camera report on your hometown's weather?

I wouldn't...but maybe you would.

You can do so by bidding on this Charitybuzz auction to raise money for the ad council. 

Bidding for this ultimate Weather Channel experience currently stands at $2,750, with an "estimated value" of $15,000. Really?! That crap is worth 15 grand?

The current bid happens to be over $2,000 more than David Gregory's auction got. 

No word on if the Weather Channel auction if you will get to meet the America Bald Ego Jim Cantore. 

Texas News Director Found Dead in His Home

KBTX's recently retired news director, Mike George, was found dead Sunday afternoon at his home in College Station.

A cause of death is not known as of Monday, but foul play is not suspected. An autopsy has been ordered. George was 51 years old.

George had a distinguished career following his first stint at KBTX, working behind the scenes in leadership roles at stations in Austin, Las Vegas and Atlanta.

For five-and-a-half years starting in 2008, George led KBTX's news department. George retired in 2013 in order to spend more time with his family. He leaves behind his wife Ginnie, who he married 11 months ago, and three children.

H/T KBTX