Liberal Net a Non-Starter, Says NBC Universal President

[Tace]

By Staff -- Broadcasting & Cable, 11/13/2005 11:53:00 PM

snip

But instead, (Tucker) Carlson made a suggestion: Why not start a channel that overtly caters to liberals? “There’s tons of liberals out there,” Carlson said.

Going after a lefty audience would be futile, Wright said. “For some strange, probably genetic, reasons”—we’re pretty sure that was a joke—”they don’t listen to a lot of radio and they don’t watch a lot of television.”

Another disincentive: Despite all the media attention given to cable-news programming—from Bill O’Reilly’s histrionics on Fox to Anderson Cooper’s exhibitionistic empathy at CNN—American viewers are not all that interested. Wright pointed out that the cable-news networks combined draw fewer unique viewers all night long than a single half-hour of NBC Nightly News.

“You’d think it would be 25 million people. It’s smaller than that, it’s 5 million-6 million,” Wright said. “It’s not a very large group.”

[peacetalksforall]

1. Who is THEY?

from above

"they don’t listen to a lot of radio and they don’t watch a lot of television.”

referring to 'libbruls'.

That could mean -
dumb at the one end
smart at the other end

which did he intend?

[KurtNYC]

10. It is a little like running a steakhouse and saying

to the suggestion of a broader menu, "well vegetarians don't eat here much." Duh.

[liveoaktx]

2. On a good note, this means MOST people aren't watching the bloviators

[Marr]

3. 'Peope aren't watching our propaganda and infotainment anymore, so

... that proves they'd never watch real news'. That seems to be basically what he's saying.

Maybe you have to wear a really tight necktie for that to make sense.

[bullimiami]

4. liars and collaborators. donahue had the highest ratings on msnbc when

they canceled the show.
why?
because they didnt want to be connected with a show that might be seen to have an antibush, antiwar bias.


liars.

[zbdent]

5. Hmm, maybe the reasons why a bunch of liberals don't listen to

the radio or watch a lot of TV are:

1. We're working.
2. at jobs where we are not allowed to have a radio blaring.
3. #2's radio cannot tune in the 5 watt stations which are allowed to carry the left view
4. the bosses don't allow those low-wattage stations to be blaring
5. We're not allowed to watch TV at work, either.

[Dawgs]

6. What are the ratings for "liberal" television programs?

The Daily Show, Countdown, and the Simpsons all seem to be getting pretty good ratings. Who the hell is determining what "liberals" are watching?

[Ron Green]

7. As long as it's commercial, it'll be entertainment.

The open market will bring out the lowest common denominator, always. The only way to support thoughtful programming is to endow it, fund it, or otherwise support it with no commercial strings. It'll never pull big numbers, because most people unfortunately just aren't very bright.

[lpbk2713]

8. "they don’t listen to a lot of radio and they don’t watch a lot of TV"

Ummm .... maybe it is because we prefer being involved in the world around us and we don't find ourselves involved in the idiot box as much as the sheepies. Ya think?


Newton Minow was right. And here's a TV exec who apparently never heard of him.

[Norquist Nemesis]

9. Well, Mr. Wright. You never know until you try!!!

You very likely would be stunned by the overwhelming popularity!

Stupid exec. They keep trying to be a hair to the left of Faux and claim no bias. If they really want to make a bit hit, then they need to fill the tremendous void for Liberals. If Liberals aren't watching TV or listening to radio (as he claims), then he should be asking "why not?" Could it be that the current fare doesn't offer Liberals anything?

[Southsideirish]

11. They think progressives aren't "out there" as we don't berate them

with phone calls and hate mail the way the lunatic fringe does therefore we don't exist.