An MSNBC executive took issue with our story yesterday regarding Rupert Murdoch's new business channel forcing MSNBC to move to a less desirable location on the menu. Jeremy Gaines, MSNBC's VP of Communications said, "The best channel positions in cable are the lower ones, not the higher ones. Our new channel position is fantastic." This struck as an odd position considering that 1) one of the most successful cable news outlets (Fox News) is on channel 46 (on TimeWarner cable New York), and 2) MSNBC seemed to have no problem with it's channel 43 location for the last ten years.
Presented with these points Gaines said, *"In general, channels at the lower end of the dial get more sampling because that is where the broadcast networks are (and, therefore, the largest concentration of viewers). When you have a channel position, you need a stronger reason for a viewer to come to you. Over the years, Fox has been successful doing that, as has MSNBC with our recent success with Keith Olbermann (pictured right) and our documentary programming." *
An answer which only addresses half our questions, but the passionate initial response at least proves that there's plenty of fight left in MSNBC. We now know that the network probably won't succumb to Murdoch's pummeling without a long, drawn out fight.
