Olbermann Becoming a One-Man Show

Anyone who had a year-and-a-half in the Keith Olbermann over-under pool is a winner. He lasted exactly that long on Fox Sports Net's nightly news show.

His first night was Jan. 5, 1999. His last was July 5, 2000.

Oh, he's staying with the network. It's just that his duties have been reduced to one night. And the network finally found a producer he can work with--himself.

"I can now submit my resignation to myself," he quipped.

The Fox publicity machine was working overtime putting a positive spin on this story.

David Hill, the chairman of Fox Sports, was brought in Thursday to make the big announcement on a conference call, giving the impression Olbermann was being rewarded with his own show. It will be called, of course, "The Keith Olbermann Evening News," and will be on every Sunday night. It makes its debut Aug. 6.

So what's going on here?

Fox paid $1 million to MSNBC to buy out Olbermann's contract and gave him a salary reported to be in the $900,000 range. For this, he became the main anchor on its nightly sports news show. And now Fox is reducing its high-priced "superstar" to one night a week?

That makes a lot of sense.

About as much sense as bringing in out-of-town anchors to do a local Southern California sports show, which Fox Sports Net recently did for its new "Regional Sports Report."

Maybe the Olbermann move is a sign Fox Sports Net is realizing its "National Sports Report" will never catch ESPN's "SportsCenter." The latest Nielsen figures show that Fox Sports Net's two-hour news blocks average a .54 rating and ESPN's 11 o'clock edition of "SportsCenter" averages .82.

Hill, noting these ratings aren't something to get excited about, said, "At one point we wondered if it wouldn't be cheaper to just fly people in to watch the show live."

Hill did indicate the show made progress with Olbermann. So why cut Olbermann's duties? Besides his Sunday night show, he'll do Saturday pregame baseball on the Fox network. Is two days a week worth $900,000 a year? He's not a Dodger pitcher. Maybe Fox is cutting Olbermann's salary. One source said that was the case.

As for what's behind the move, it's no secret Olbermann is not well liked around the Fox Sports Net set. There are a million stories. One is he insisted a popcorn machine that provided a snack for the crew be removed because he didn't like the smell of popcorn.

He doesn't speak to colleague Chris Myers at all, and barely speaks to anyone else.