| Msnbc ceo dismissed { December 21 2002 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active) http://www.nypost.com/business/27537.htmhttp://www.nypost.com/business/27537.htm
MSNBC GETS A MERRY DISS-MAS FROM THE BOSS By DON KAPLAN
December 21, 2002 -- NBC Chairman Bob Wright has no kind words for the troops at MSNBC - in fact he's got no words at all for the struggling cable news channel. In an internal holiday memo to all NBC staffers yesterday Wright lauded almost all of the network's divisions. But when it came time to offer kind words to the the company's cable channels, only CNBC was mentioned.
"Among our cable properties, CNBC held steady despite a brutal climate for financial advertising and is postioned for double-digit gains in operating profit in 2003," Wright wrote in the memo that was obtained by The Post.
The memo, which was sent out early yesterday afternoon, continued with kudos for the company's recent acquisitions, Spanish-language station Telemundo, cable's Bravo channel and the staffs of the Finance, Legal and Human Resource divisions that helped close the deals.
Industry sources said MSNBC's notable absence from the memo might not "bode well" for the channel and may be the first sign that a shake-up is being planned for the new year.
NBC officials were unavailable for comment. For almost two years, the all news channel has been on the losing end of a cut-throat cable ratings race behind CNN and industry leader, Fox News Channel. During the summer, it even lagged behind Headline News.
In the all-important 18-49-year-old demographic, MSNBC was 50 percent behind Fox and 47 percent behind CNN as recently as October, according to Nielsen.
Wright recently charged NBC News chief Neal Shapiro with oversight of MSNBC in an attempt to formulate a new strategy to boost the ailing channel's ratings.
Fox News Channel is a division of News Corp., which also owns The Post.
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