Outside Cable News

Via DailyFX

Kathy Lien will be a Guest Host on Fox Business’ Opening Bell Next Week (April 14-18) from 9am to 10am ET.

Via Multichannel News
By Linda Moss
CNN Plans For Pope Benedict’s First Official U.S. Visit
Multiplatform Effort In The Works For Papal Visit Next Week

CNN will engage a multiplatform effort to cover Pope Benedict’s first official papal visit to the United States next week, officials said Thursday.

Online as well as on CNN/U.S., CNN International, CNN en Español, CNN Radio and Headline News, CNN will report on the pope’s address to the United Nations, his meeting with President George W. Bush, his visit to Ground Zero in New York and other events.

The pope’s visit will take place from April 15 to 20 in Washington and New York.

This trip to the United States marks Pope Benedict’s sixth country that he has visited since becoming pope in 2005. There are more than 67 million Catholics in the United States and more than a billion Catholics worldwide.

Soledad O’Brien will anchor CNN’s live coverage April 20 as Pope Benedict visits Ground Zero of the World Trade Center and officiates Mass in New York’s Yankee Stadium.

O’Brien will be joined by weekend CNN Newsroom anchors T.J. Holmes and Betty Nguyen reporting from location and CNN’s Vatican analyst John Allen.

CNN’s coverage begins with the pope’s arrival on Tuesday, April 15, and continues with contributions throughout the visit from Jim Acosta, Wolf Blitzer, Jason Carroll, Ines Ferre,Ed Henry, Juan Carlos Lopez, Colleen McEdwards,Kyra Phillips, Richard Roth and Mary Snow.
(more…)

Via Engadget HD
By Darren Murph
Time Warner Cable bringing Fox News HD to Brooklyn / Queens, NY

Not satisfied with finding Versus / Golf HD on your EPG a little early? For Time Warner Cable customers located in Brooklyn / Queens, New York, here’s another tidbit to appease your insatiable appetite for more high-def. On an updated Channel Changes page for the aforementioned locales, TWC clearly notes that Fox News HD will be headed to those lineups on May 1st in slot 744. Unfortunately, there’s no word on when (or if) this newcomer will spread out to other areas, but given the history of TWC not treating all boroughs equally, we wouldn’t hold our breath (you hear, Manhattanites?). [Disclosure: Engadget is part of the Time Warner family]

Via PaidContent
By Robert Andrews
CNBC Tries To Up Video Subs, Seeks EU Syndication

Financial news channel CNBC is to target countries including Russia in a new effort to drive subscriptions for its premium CNBC Plus web video offering. The 15-month-old package offers streams of CNBC US, Europe and Asia TV channels plus archived video interviews for $9.99 per month or $99 per year, but so far has only a modest 15,000 subscribers.

“Countries that don’t have fantastic digital distribution, like Russia, that would be a good place to promote CNBC Plus as an online television subscription product,” CNBC Europe business development director Martin Kay told me. Promotion outlets could include Russian portals and investment magazines, though target countries have not yet been settled on.
(more…)

Via PRNewswire
The 53rd Annual Fight for Freedom Fund Dinner
>EXCERPT

DETROIT, April 10 /PRNewswire/ — For 53 years the Detroit Branch NAACP has sponsored one of the nation’s signature events. Thanks to hundreds of volunteers, dedicated staff and many business, corporate, community, faith- based and labor organizations we can record a history of success in what has become the nation’s largest sit down dinner. This year shall be no different.

This year we are also pleased to have a special participation by the news outlet CNN, as they share with our community a special documentary entitled, “Black in America.” Ms. Soledad O’Brien, along with other representatives of CNN will attend our dinner for a special presentation.

Read the rest at PRNewswire.

Via Rich.com
By JAMIE C. RUFF
Va. man’s video wins CNN project
L.C. Bird High graduate made documentary on race as part of ‘Black in America’

What it means to be black in America is a complicated issue for Richmond-area resident Jermaine Fletcher. The topic made Fletcher the winner of CNN’s Campus iReport competition that is part of CNN’s “Black in America” documentary project.

Fletcher’s “Shades of Our Nation: What it Means to be Black in America” generated more than 2,000 page views within 24 hours of it being posted on www.cnn.com.

A senior at Florida A&M University, Fletcher, 22, won a digital video recorder, which he is using to put together the second part of his effort that will be on the CNN Web site in about two weeks.
(more…)

Via The Badger Herald
By Bassey Etim
Cable news revealed, reproached

After another week of research, it’s become clear that cable news is an art form that is one part comedy and two parts tragedy. It is a land where Larry King can be considered the entertainment guy, a land where cutting corners means we’re subjected to the same creepy 20-second Anna Nicole Smith b-roll for hours on end, where Nancy Grace causes the distressed mothers of missing children to commit suicide and gloats about it later, and where the graphics are cheesy and the anchor hair is always perfectly stiff and ready for action.

>I’m not sure Nancy gloated or bought the gun.

As part of The Badger Herald’s continued effort to find the perfect cable infotainment show for college students, I am proud to present The Urban Correspondent’s Comprehensive Guide to Primetime Cable News.

Mid-Afternoon

CNN: “The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer”

Between Wolf Blitzer’s yelling, his 4-foot-9-inch frame, the giant TV screens that surround him at all times and Jack Cafferty’s incomprehensible muttering, this show is akin to being trapped in a $2 billion carnival fun house. Blitzer’s concerted efforts to report the news in a comprehensive, fast-paced format are consistently interrupted by Jack Cafferty, who, based on empirical evidence, is Wolf Blitzer’s crazy uncle.

Despite its foibles, you would be hard-pressed to make an argument that cable news’ record holder for consecutive starts, Wolf “Iron Man” Blitzer, doesn’t host one of the best shows on cable.
(more…)