MSNBC Launches Some New Shift Today

MSNBC is launching a digital streaming channel Today at 9AM and it could be where you will find the next talent for MSNBC's cable net and even NBC. 

The channel known as “Shift by MSNBC,” already has shows ready to go. They will debut a new show about sports. And one focused on books. And another that will examine celebrity and popular culture.

ore importantly, Shift will have new contributors that could gradually make their way to the cable network. This might be a good idea, since MSNBC head Phil Griffin thought that someone like Ronan Farrow was a can't miss and he flopped.

This will give MSNBC the opportunity to see if the people that Griffin picks really can do TV, or if they will fail like Farrow? 

“We’ve got to keep evolving,” Griffin said. “We are going to broaden the aperture, but keep the sensibility. Times change and evolve. We had great success in 2006 to 2012, 2013, with our sensibility, but I think now, with the media exploding, we’ve got to adjust a little bit too, and figure out new ways to grab audiences.” Among the new offerings is “The Briefing,” a political program hosted Monday and Fridays by Luke Russert, and “Code Forward,” a discussion of issues raised by new technology, developed in partnership with the tech-news outlet Re/Code.

MSNBC is following CBS into the digital world and some might say into the future.

Stay tuned....

H/T Variety 

Sony Executive to Meet with Al Sharpton....WHY?

Al Sharpton is going to take time out from his MSNBC job and flying around the country to get his face on as many cameras as he can, to meet with Embattled Sony chief Amy Pascal.

Pascal is in hot water after racist e-mails between herself and producer Scott Rudin about President Obama and what movies he might like were revealed as part of sensitive information released by hackers.

She called Sharpton last week to apologize (why didn't she call President Obama) and try to set up a meeting with the cable host.

Sharpton told Page Six that he did talk to Pascal and agree to meet her. ‘

“I told her how offended I was, I felt it was outrageous. She said it didn’t reflect her [true feelings]. I told her when you look at the lack of diversity in Hollywood, and her own company and the context and language [of the e-mails], how could I not feel offended?”’ Sharpton said.

He also says that he made no promises to Pascal and could still ask for her to be fired.

“I don’t agree her apology is sufficient, nor did I agree that we won’t join those [calling] for her removal. Everything is on the table. I’m not going to promise anything either way.”’

How about the calls that ask for Sharpton's removal from MSNBC? No one seems to be heading those.

Mark my words, Sharpton will come out of the meeting, say that he accepts Pascal's apology and you will then soon see Rev. Al in a Sony movie to be released at a later date. 

You just know it's going to happen. 

Fox Shanks First Try and Golf Coverage

Anyone that reads this site at all knows that FTVLive is my love and golf is my passion.

Saturday, we got a glimpse into the future and it did not like bright for golf on the Fox Network. This past year, Fox paid the USGA a lot of money to wrestle away the US Open, Women's US Open and other USGA events from NBC.

The USGA and NBC had a longtime partnership and in a backdoor deal Fox was able to take away the golf property from the Peacock.

Fox's first try at golf coverage happened on Saturday in an off-season event that really meant nothing, but was a good chance for Fox to give their try at covering golf. 

It did not go well.

First of all, the same music package that Fox uses for NFL Football was used on their golf coverage. They also used NFL announcer Joe Buck and he while Buck is very good at Baseball and Football coverage, he was not at covering golf. 

He made a mistake even with the title of people working on the broadcast. 

When Joe Buck made a reference to Kim Kardashian during the broadcast, it nearly sent golf purist into cardiac arrest.

As to what Buck thought of Fox's first attempt at golf coverage?

"We're not worthy," He said.

That might have been the only thing he got right all day. 

Let's hope Fox heads to the range and works on their game, because right now, if they were a golfer, Fox would be considered a really bad hack. 

Weather Porn Makes Way into Network Newscasts

ABC might want to rename "World News Tonight with David Muir" to "World News Tonight with David and Ginger".

It seems that Ginger Zee, ABC’s meteorologist gets more facetime on WNT than any other correspondent at the network. 

And it's not just ABC that is reporting more on weather, NBC and CBS are as well. 

The AP's David Bauder writes that over the past five years, the newscasts have essentially doubled the amount of time spent on weather and natural disaster stories. The time has more than quadrupled since the early 1990s, said news consultant Andrew Tyndall, who monitors the content of the broadcasts. 

ABC’s “World News Tonight” leads the way, particularly since David Muir took over as anchor in September.

“The weather is part of the national conversation and it is part of the news cycle,” said Almin Karamehmedovic, executive producer of “World News Tonight.” “Increasingly, we see it that way. I’m sure the weather is the same as it was 10 years ago, but we see much more of it.”

And why have networks made the shift to covering weather a lot more?

Ratings... of course.

“Weather coverage can drive ratings,” Burkey said, but “you have to be careful that you’re not covering weather stories that aren’t real news every night. It’s an easy way to lose the trust of the audience about what is really an important weather story.”

Well That Dress Isn't Going to Work

Sometimes that cute blue dress that looked so good in the store, doesn't look nearly as good on the Chroma-key wall.

Just saying.....

Ummmmm....You're on the Air

Journalism 101 told us that you treat every mic as if it's hot and every camera as if it's on the air. Somebody might want to give Fox Chicago's Bill Bellis a refresher course.

It was shown live on camera getting ready for his live hit, he had no clue that he was on the air and probably should have not flipped the bird.

Let's go to the video:

Meteorologist Bill Bellis flips the bird

Ummmmm....

You do know that directing a newscast is not quite the same as directing a movie....right?

Legendary Motown Anchor is Dead

The King of Detroit news, Bill Bonds died yesterday after suffering a heart attack.

Bonds a broadcasting legend who made his name at WXYZ, starting at the station in 1963 and working there until 1968. He came back three years later in 1971 and worked there until his retirement in 1995., has died.

Bonds was one of the main reasons behind WXYZ's dominance in the ratings throughout the 70s, 80s, 90s and up into the millennium.

From an early age, it seems Bill Bonds was destined to become a journalist.

"I loved reading, I could read before I was in kindergarten," Bonds said."

The Bonds family released this statement.

"For us Bill was so much more than the face on TV, the talented anchorman.  He was a wonderful husband and father who cared deeply about his children and his family.  We will miss him greatly. 

Bill had a great passion for the news business. More than anything, he loved bringing the news to the people of Detroit. He believed we were a better community, if we were a well-informed community. 

We thank everyone for their thoughts and prayers during this difficult time."

 He was 82.

H/T WXYZ

Stop The Music

Each year, the WNBC Anchors, Reporters and other station employees gather at the Rockefeller Center ice rink to sing Christmas carols.

The sing-a-long is taped and packaged into a special that the sales department can sell.

But, sadly the bad weather in New York forced WNBC to cancel the taping and the music has been silenced. It was a chance for Viewers to join in the Sing-Along and meet (or yell at) their favorite TV news personalities. 

ut, don't worry, WNBC says they still plan on airing the show (after all sales had sold spots), by rerunning parts of last year's sing-a-long.

We're guessing they will edit out the staffers that quit or were fired in the past year.

It airs Saturday night.

H/T FishBowlNY

We Really Need the Rain

If you had a dollar every time a California Anchor says "we need the rain," you would have all your Christmas shopping paid for:

When it rains in L.A. people get excited to wear their rain jackets, hats and boots and then the sun comes out at noon and everyone looks like a nut. But it's good, because while you may not have heard it yet, we need the rain.

Fox News Correspondent Found Dead of Apparent Suicide (Updated)

Sad to report that Fox News Correspondent Dominic Di-Natale was found dead on Wednesday from an apparent suicide. 

 The 43 year old Di-Natale covered some big stories for Fox News, including reports from Osama Bin Laden's compound, Tahrir Square and Ferguson.

Officials reportedly found his body after a friend "who knew of his state of mind regarding serious undisclosed health issues" reached out to police. The coroner ruled his death a suicide.

Colleague Greta Van Susteren posted the sad news to her Facebook page and pointed out that Di-Natale must have been planing to take his life for a while. He asked Greta if she wanted his cats.

A sad story indeed.

Here is a portion of Van Susteren's FB post:

Update: FTVLive has been informed that did resign amicably from Fox News late last month. 

Mother of Missing Anchor Has Died

The mother of longtime missing Anchor Jodi Huisentruit has died.

Imogene “Jane” Huisentruit died on Tuesday at the age of 91. Private services were held at Williams Dingmann Funeral Home in Long Prairie.

Unfortunately, Huisentruit died not knowing what happened to her daughter.

Jodi Huisentruit went missing on June 27th, 1995 in Mason City, Iowa at the age of 27. It’s presumed the television news anchor was abducted, but no one has ever been charged in the case.

Jodi Huisentruit was declared legally dead in May of 2001.

Next year will mark the 20th anniversary of Jodi’s disappearance.

H/T WJON

Buffalo Station Catches Officer Beating Man on Camera

A Photographer for WKBW recorded video of a Buffalo Police Officer beating a man in a popular bar district.

The man that was hit with a baton by officer Corey Krug was not arrested. Krug was caught on video slamming a man onto the hood of a car, pushing him to the pavement and beating him over and over with a nightstick in the early morning of Thanksgiving Day.

No word why WKBW held the video for two weeks before airing it? The station says they have handed over a copy of the video to the Buffalo Police Chief. 

Officer's can be heard yelling "Corey! Corey!" to try and get him to stop, knowing that the TV camera is right there.

Here is a copy of WKBW's report:

If you are one of those that can't see the video, here's the link.

Phoenix News Director Headed to Seattle?

FTVLive is hearing rumblings that KNXV News Director Pat Costello might be leaving the sun for the rain.

Word is that KOMO in Seattle may hire the Phoenix news boss to replace Holly Gauntt, who left the station for Denver. 

Costello has been the ND at KNXV for 2 years and has strong ties to Seattle. Before coming to Phoenix, Costello served as the vice-president/station manager of KING-TV, KONG-TV and NorthWest Cable News in Seattle, Washington. 

Stay tuned... 

Now It's Official

Speaking of Phoenix....

We can say that the Meredith duopoly in Phoenix is now official.

As we told you quite some time ago, Meredith now owns KTVK and KPHO in the Valley of the Sun, but we know that it is finally a done deal.

We know this because the station now has their logo on both sides of their promo water bottles. 

The Hottest News Babe in San Diego

A radio station in San Diego did a poll to t̶r̶y̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶g̶e̶t̶ ̶c̶l̶i̶c̶k̶s̶ ̶o̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶i̶r̶ ̶w̶e̶b̶s̶i̶t̶e̶ find out who was the hottest newswomen in SoCal.

There is no doubt that polls like this are demeaning and very shallow and most often the women in these polls will say so publicly (and then go home and click on their name over and over again, to try win).

When People Magazine was doing the "Sexiest Newsman Alive", stations were putting the story up on their websites, talking about it on air and trying to sway the votes at People.

When one of their female Anchors is in such a contest, it is "degrading and demeaning."

In the San Diego poll, the winner was KGTV Anchor Natasha Zouves.

No word if the station has cut a promo on this yet?