Convergence Coming to MySpace and Fox News

The Financial Times reports this morning that MySpace is about to start tracking contributions to the 2008 presidential candidates. That's a good example of a web 2.0 function--the connectivity of a social network, plus the interactivity of the web.

Now all that's needed is the immediacy of TV. MySpace, of course, is owned by the News Corp., which also owns Fox News. So expect some heavy synergy, between MySpace and FoxNews, in the years to come.

Greg Gutfeld Uncut

One of the most candid and interesting--did I say candid?--profiles of a TV figure that The Cable Gamer has ever read appears in the latest issue of The New York Observer, courtesy of ace writer George Gurley.

It's about Greg Gutfeld, the host of Fox's "Red Eye," which is getting more buzz than any other cable news show that's on at 2 am. OK, that was a joke, but in fact, the show is getting a lot of attention--even the mighty New York Times wrote favorably about the show awhile back.

I wish I could simply post the entire article, but suffice it to say that it provides plenty of inside skinny on how Gutfeld's career has evolved, takes us behind the scenes at Fox, and offers a painfully funny explanation of why some men become liberals.

If you're not watching "Red Eye," you are missing something. And so for those not addicted to Red Bull, there's always TiVo!

Next Steps in The Cable Game

Les Luchter, writing in the Media Daily News, takes up the issue of new acquisitions, which further fuse TV and the web. This is Convergence, coming all the closer:

TV newtorks were busy with Web expansions yesterday. CNN bought an equity stake in Internet Broadcasting, CBS Interactive bought Wallstrip, and NBC Universal adopted a new ad format from Unicast.

CNN joined Hearst-Argyle Television, Post-Newsweek Stations, McGraw-Hill Broadcasting and Split Rock Partners as investors in Internet Broadcasting, which runs a network of more than 70 news and information sites for local TV stations nationwide. In addition to stations owned by the parent companies, the company also publishes sites for NBC, Cox, Meredith, Scripps and Morgan stations.

CNN and Internet Broadcasting said they will now allow advertisers to combine CNN.com's national reach with the regional reach of the local news sites. Internet Broadcasting will offer select CNN.com ad placements as part of its nationwide, regional or market-by-market ad packages. On the editorial side, the companies will share local, national and international news content.

Of particular interest is CBS's partnering with Wallstrip.com. Check out this amusing video, starring Lindsay Campbell, showing that wit and irreverence can make it, even into Black Rock.

Update on Brian Williams, Media Pet

The other day TCG noted how Brian Williams is so popular with the NYC media elite--in spite of his middling ratings.

Well, now we have a better sense of the reason why: Take a look at the reverential interview that Williams performed last night on Bill Clinton.

Hat tip to the Media Research Center, of course.

Brian Williams, Media Pet

I can never figure out what the publication status of Radar is, from day to day and month to month, but the Radar "Fresh Intelligence" feature is a must read for onliners.

For example, there's this Radar item, here, which asks the punching question: Why is Brian Williams always showered with awards and honors in the NYC media canyon when his broadcast news show is #2? The answer seems to be that Williams is simply a good schmoozer-literally.

And of course, one could further ask why anyone should care about the nightly broadcast news in this new/newer/newest media age.

Media Double Standard Dept: Can you imagine what the reaction would be...

...if Fox had used Bill O'Reilly to ask questions in a presidential debate? Especially a debate among Democrats? There would've been unshirted hell, as the pro-MSM "watchdogs" blasted Fox for "bias." But of course, Fox has never done such a thing. FNC knows that O'Reilly deals in opinion and analysis.

But Keith Olbermann gets away with it with pretending to be a straight journalist when he wants to. And he is fully enabled by the media establishment.

Welcome to the world of double standards: MSNBC uses Keith Olbermann in last Thursday night's debate, and the MSM doesn't so much as notice. That left Rudy Giuliani to complain about Olbermann's role at the Reagan Library debate as reported by the AP's David Bauder.

On his April 25 show, for example, Olbermann said that Giuliani was using the language of Osama bin Laden with "the same chilling nonchalance of the madman" to argue that Republicans would keep Americans safer than Democrats from terror. Well, Olbermann has a right to his lefty opinions, but maybe MSNBC should be more protective of its image as a "news" network, as opposed to becoming merely a "views" network.

As Bauder put it, "Olbermann's popularity and evolving image as an ideologue has led NBC News to stretch traditional notions of journalistic objectivity."

That's a pretty strong statement from a wire service. But the usual watchdogs, of course, couldn't care less--those watchdogs exist only to watch out for left. Those watchdogs can be fierce, but they only bite the right.

What's happening here is clear enough: MSNBC is continuing to veer to the left. And the MSM are cheering it on. Talk about a rat--and a low-rated rat at that--swimming toward a sinking ship.

"DJ purchase would help Fox biz channel"

That's the headline atop Paul J. Gough and Georg Szalai's compelling story in Friday's Hollywood Reporter.

Here's the good stuff about the News Corp's possible purchase of Dow Jones, which owns The Wall Street Journal:

While News Corp.'s uninvited cash offer to buy Dow Jones & Co. might satisfy Rupert Murdoch's long-standing desire to own the Wall Street Journal, the acquisition would immeasurably boost the future success of the Fox Business Channel.

The channel will launch this year in about 30 million homes through carriage deals with big MSOs, with lots of work going on behind the scenes to hire on-air talent and prepare studios and a newsroom in News Corp.'s headquarters in New York. But while Fox News Channel CEO Roger Ailes could bring his considerable talents to bear on the production and distribution of the business channel, his main rival -- CNBC -- still held at least one significant card: the long-term deal with Dow Jones & Co. that gives CNBC access to the financial news giant's considerable data stream and on-air talents of journalists.

But that could change if News Corp. successfully buys Dow Jones with its $5 billion cash offer. It isn't clear how News Corp. could or would change the contract, which was signed in 1997 and runs through the end of 2012. An NBC Uni executive said Tuesday that the CNBC-Dow Jones deal isn't affected by a change in ownership at Dow Jones.

"It's a bold and brilliant move. ... They'll get the most important asset in financial journalism, they'll launch the Fox Business Channel with a real bang and they'll deny their competitor, CNBC, of talent," said Michael Robinson, senior vp Levick Strategic Communications in Washington.

And The Cable Gamer would add this: The owners of the Journal would be crazy to turn this deal down. The outlook for newspapers is terrible--the outlook for synergistic media is great.

Another Player in The Wall Streeet Journal Battle?

If the prospect that Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation might buy The Wall Street Journal isn't wild enough for you, how 'bout this?

One possible suitor is General Electric Co., which has a relationship to Dow Jones via its CNBC business channel. Wall Street Journal staffers frequently appear on the GE-owned channel to comment on their stories or breaking news. But if GE really feels it needs to have business reporters appear on CNBC, it could just as easily acquire Pearson, publisher of the Financial Times, or Reuters Group and put employees of those outlets on CNBC.

Thanks to Crain's New York Business for providing The Cable Gamer with the most fun she's had in days--the prospect of a genuine bidding war for the premiere business paper in the country.

This is the Convergence we've all been talking about, when your TV set and your computer are One.

So What's new in The Cable Game?

THIS!

Talk about an Extra!! This is hot stuff:

NEW YORK (AP) - Dow Jones & Co., publisher of The Wall Street Journal, said Tuesday it received an unsolicited bid from Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. to buy the company for $5 billion, but it was unclear whether the family that controls the company would sell.

Dow Jones issued a brief statement confirming that its board had received the offer from News Corp. to buy the company at $60 a share, either in cash or a combination of cash and News Corp. stock. News of the offer, which was first reported on CNBC, sent Dow Jones' shares soaring, and also lifted those of other newspaper publishers.

Dow Jones is controlled by the Bancroft family through a special class of shares and cannot be taken over without their consent. The company said that its board and members of the family were evaluating the proposal, and that there was no assurance it would lead to a transaction.

Certainly puts the forthcoming Fox Business Channel in a new light.