NYT: Olbermann to join … Al Gore’s Current TV « Hot Air

Why would Olby settle for a rinky-dink operation like Current after being MSNBC’s 8 p.m. go-to guy for years on end? Could be that they outbid for him, but a big payday seems unlikely considering that the network was struggling so badly last year that it had to remake its whole operation. (Besides, who else would be bidding? CNN?) The key, I’d bet, is the equity provision, i.e. control. MSNBC’s overall leftward tilt was partly Olbermann’s doing; presumably he’ll have an even bigger influence over the programming at the “new” Current TV. In fact, per the Reuters story at the last link, the early buzz about Current when Gore got involved in 2004 was that it would be a left-wing alternative to Fox News. Having tried and semi-succeeded to build precisely that at MSNBC, Olby may be thinking of this as a second shot but with even greater leverage. Plus, if even one-tenth of the stories are true about what it’s like to work with him, he’ll need some equity to ensure that he doesn’t eventually get shoved out here too.