Keith Olbermann, Current Resolve Election Feud; Olbermann Will Control 2012 Coverage

Keith Olbermann's feud with his bosses at Current TV has been resolved -- for now.

Tensions between the "Countdown" host and the leadership at the small network had reached a boiling point last week, as the two sides publicly warred over Olbermann's control of Current's 2012 election coverage.

On Sunday night, Olbermann took to Twitter to announce that he would, in fact, be at the helm of Current's coverage. "I'm pleased to tell you that I'll be running the election coverage on Current, after New Hampshire," he wrote. "Not sure GOP will share my satisfaction."

As Olbermann indicated, he will still be missing from Tuesday night's coverage of the New Hampshire primary, meaning that he has been absent from two of the most important voting nights in the election calendar.

If the immediate issue of the 2012 coverage has been resolved, there is still another major problem Olbermann has to contend with: the technical and production values at Current. In his Monday column, the New York Times' David Carr reported that Olbermann is "disappointed" in the frequent glitches and failures on the production level, and that this faultiness was one of the primary reasons he refused to anchor election coverage. There has still been no public word about how Current plans to address that issue.

Also on HuffPost:

A look at Olbermann's career.

Comments

[one09flat04]

06:28 PM on 02/06/2012

The right wing zombies have awakened from their slumber in the forest of "Fixed News" to join in the drum beat to pound Keith Olbermann into the ground! And why does Keith Olbermann get them all riled up into soiling their pants? Because he tells it like it is...the truth that is! Roland C. Woodaka

[Carolyn207]

06:56 AM on 01/12/2012

When Keith Olberman had his conflicts on MSNBC, I always gave him the benefit of the doubt. But now that he is on another network and is involved in clashes with Current management, it appears as though the issue might be Keith. I hope not because he is a favorite. I hope things work out in his favor. He might need some anger management intervention.

[Gaus]

11:08 PM on 01/13/2012

Keith Olbarmann having an issue with a 2nd employer doesn't make Keith wrong you see in this great media show of ours Mr. Olberman is the snake and the network is the snake charmer ... We all go see the fast biting snake do the dance for us but if the snake bites the Snake charmer ,is it the snakes fault? No! Snakes are only inserting beaus they are wild and dangerous so is Keith Olbermann ...I say to Current News, Can't handle the cobra get out of the circus :-)

[TMIDGE66]

06:17 AM on 01/12/2012

Limbaugh, Hannity, the clowns on Fox news; a classic example of early childhood neglect, trying to establish leverage in a world where decency might prevail if only these high school hookey players would wake up to the fact they they are being laughed at all over again, "high school revisited". they became the bullies they feared.

[tycoon3]

03:52 AM on 01/12/2012

I'm really p.o.'d that Keith has been missing from the 1st 2 primaries. Isn't why they hired him? I don't think Gore's intention was to have KO sitting there reading James Thurber stories (as much as I love those). This is an election year, so why sideline him? If, indeed, he's not happy with the Amateur Night In Dixie production values, I don't blame him. I've seen public access cable stations from Podunk with better productions than Current TV. C'mon, Al, you've got the dough! KO has 30 years experience, why not let him use it?

[wolfsvssarah]

12:12 AM on 01/12/2012

Ok Kieth if you've solved your difficulties, whatever they were, where are you. Please come back, you are missed.

[mherrera]

08:23 PM on 01/11/2012

Dear Current TV (a channel I can't even get), you hired a mercurial star. You knew what you were getting. Keith is good. he's a perfectionist. He has a lot to say, like it or not. Turn the man loose and let him build a channel for you.

[RichardWad]

07:04 PM on 01/11/2012

Olbermann and Limbaugh sittin' in a tree....

[RedRat]

06:18 PM on 01/11/2012

Well Keith is really running out of media outlets, isn't he. He leaves MSNBC in a huff and then goes to Current with the subsequent drop in viewers. Where next? This is pretty much the end of the line for him really. So I am not surprised that both Current and Olbermann finally came to their senses. Better to have 200,000 viewers than zero.

[madskillzdotcom316]

05:12 PM on 01/11/2012

I love this. It's all about ratings. I truly believe this was done to get more attention on Current. Create a controversy to boost viewers. Right now, the Politically Direct show is horrible. Last night, after the commercial break, President Gore was on his iPhone and put it up AFTER the cameras were rolling. Lawd! Young Turks need to go BACK to the Interwebs and Granholm, while I am crushing on her, isn't anywhere near ready for primetime. With that said, I LOVED seeing Shuster back on the air. He's ready and needs his own show. NOW. And Current should just let Keith do what he does best and stay out of his way. Seriously. Let him call the shots.

[tenilla]

07:41 PM on 01/11/2012

Didn't watch last night, but did watch Current's Iowa primary coverage last week. No chemistry between Cenk and Granholm. I like Granholm, too, but she is not ready to be an election analyst. Gore said that he would vote for President Obama, but that he just didn't feel that
support that was out there four years ago. Cenk went off on the President. Someone mentioned Supreme Court appointments, and Cenk acted like he had never heard that they were lifetime appointments. Al Gore was smug and above it all during the twenty minutes or so I saw. They went to David Shuster in Iowa, who looked miserable.

I wish Shuster had gotten his own show before Cenk.

[General Public]

03:15 PM on 01/11/2012

I don't know if this is believable... Keith Olbermann never had any disputes with any of his previous employers, and was always a model employee, a company man. I remember distinctly how he parted amicably from MSNBC... they wanted to keep him, but he wanted bigger and better things, like being able to be in charge of the entire news division of Current TV, rather than just having one single measly 1-hour show. And MSNBC hosts still talk about how great he is, on the air, even Joe Scarborough.

HAHAHAHA who am I kidding? Keith Olbermann has never gotten along with any of his bosses! MSNBC hosts are forbidden from ever mentioning his name on the air! He got run out of that network by Comcast/NBC Universal executives with pitchforks and torches! He has quite a habit of getting into fights with people, even those who are supposedly on the same side as him! So even if this particular story ISN'T true, it still fits in with everyone's preconceived notions about the Keith Olbermann narrative, of him being a combative figure who doesn't get along with anyone.

[lyingtruth]

06:47 PM on 01/11/2012

Now General, You know that it isn't true that Olbermann is a, "a combative figure who doesn't get along with anyone." In his sports carrer he never had a confrontation with one single player from Sports Illustrated's, "Top 100 Most Jacked NFL Football Players...!"

http://www.muscleprodigy.com/the-top-100-most-jacked-nfl-football-players-part-1-arcl-1985.html

Btw, may I ask your mini-subGenius if progressive is a oxymoron of liberal...? Some call me a Liberal Bolshevik.

Finally, I want to ask if agree that there should be a "re-fan" button...?

[alterego55]

06:57 PM on 01/11/2012

Dude, take a pill. Olbermann had his own show at MSNBC for 8 years, that's a fantastic run for anyone in his peer group. And, he left because he contributed to three Democratic candidates during the 2008 election, which was against MSNBC rules.

Those are pretty extreme rules for a network compared to Fox News of course, which has had five 2012 Presidential hopefuls on its payroll.

[Liz In Brooklyn]

01:42 PM on 01/11/2012

Keith and Cenk, I'm in Heaven . .

[yeti7]

11:40 AM on 01/11/2012

"I'm pleased to tell you that I'll be running the election coverage on Current, after New Hampshire,"

see how long that last with that attitude.

[mairs]

09:56 PM on 01/11/2012

That was supposed to be his job from the beginning.

[yeti7]

11:48 AM on 01/12/2012

His problem and always been is that he is not a "team" player. Almost anybody (many) that have ever worked around him says that and many have said worse. He takes a lot of credit for things that just aren't his. That is why he has a show with what maybe 10 viewers? He has failed and is failed

[earto44]

07:48 AM on 01/11/2012

Keith was not interested in Iowa or NH, being they really aren't relevant. I agree. South Carolina is the first election that will matter. Keith is not interested in staying up on Monday night to report on how 4 people voted on in Dix-Notch, NH. It's not worthy of my time, or his. It isn't. I want to see Current grow into a valid news station. With someone like K.O. running the show, it really has a chance. None of these stations start out with a grand slam. I don't watch the Oprah network, and if you were to judge it's success today, it's a failure. Judge it next year.
I remember when CNN first started. It didn't seem like a good operation. I remember MTV their first few days. I think Current TV will grow, and stay relevant.

[enfant terrible]

12:47 PM on 01/11/2012

CurrentTV will have the same fate as Air Amerika. Just wait.

[champions1]

01:40 PM on 01/11/2012

You wish....AIR AMERICA is doing just fine...we don't need no stinkin PUblicans..

[mairs]

09:56 PM on 01/11/2012

You mean Murdoch is going to take out Current?

[NoNothing]

02:41 AM on 01/11/2012

Will he be covering the elections with a phone camera?

[JTyroler]

10:33 PM on 01/10/2012

In a couple of the earlier photos, I thought he was trying to look like Groucho Marx.