From the New York Times:

It was a media cage fight, televised every weeknight at 8 p.m. But the match was halted when the blood started to spray executives in the high-priced seats.

For years Keith Olbermann of MSNBC had savaged his prime-time nemesis Bill O’Reilly of the Fox News Channel and accused Fox of journalistic malpractice almost nightly. Mr. O’Reilly in turn criticized Mr. Olbermann’s bosses and led an exceptional campaign against General Electric, the parent company of MSNBC.

It was perhaps the fiercest media feud of the decade and by this year, their bosses had had enough. But it took a fellow television personality with a neutral perspective to bring it to an end.

Come to think of it, Keith did announce he was dropping his signature "BillO" voice -- but it's not clear that he's going to play ball:

Mr. Olbermann, who is on vacation, said by e-mail message, “I am party to no deal,” adding that he would not have been included in any conversations between G.E. and the News Corporation. Fox News said it would not comment. Read on...

Here's the conundrum for Keith Olbermann -- Does he obey the corporate bigwigs and ignore O'Reilly, or does he continue to expose and publicly humiliate a lunatic, right wing bully who picks on kidnapped and sick children, and played a very public role in the murder of Dr. George Tiller? Keith...what say you?

Watch Rupert weep..

Broadcasting and Cable:

News Corp. announced a net loss of $6.4 billion in the final quarter of the year, the company's second fiscal quarter, as it wrote down the value of its TV operations, newspapers and information services to the tune of $8.4 billion.

Commenting on the results company Chairman and CEO, Rupert Murdoch, said the results were a “direct reflection of the grim economic climate.” He said the downturn had been more severe than expected and would likely last longer than predicted. The company would continue its efforts to cut costs across the business.

In the television segment second quarter operating income was down $227 million to $18 million as a result of decreased earnings at Fox TV stations, Fox Broadcast Network, Star, the company’s Asian pay-TV company and MyNetworkTV. Operating income at the stations fell 44% against the year ago period. Local TV advertising in the quarter dropped an estimated 19% in the quarter. The company sold eight of its stations last year, however.

"Accuracy in Media (AIM) is urging a full inquiry into a report that a Saudi billionaire caused the Fox News Channel (FNC) to dramatically alter its coverage of the Muslim riots in France after he called the network to complain. The Saudi billionaire, Al-waleed bin Talal, is a friend of News Corporation chairman Rupert Murdoch and controls an influential number of voting shares in the company...read on"

You knew when the Fox caption under Sean Hannity's face said "Dirty Money"- there had to be some evil, liberal agenda attached. Saudi Prince Al-waleed bin Talal, made large donations to Harvard and Georgetown universities which seemed to give Sean and author Richard Miniter, the perfect evidence of anti-Americanism on campuses across the country. Unfortunately for Hannity, he should have talked to Rupert Murdoch first.
Download | play -WMP Download | play -QT

Hannity: This is a bad guy. Rudy was right to decline the money...(Sean ratchets up the drama by banging on his desk for emphasis.)

Hannity: Why would these-universities take money from him?

Hannity should ask his boss the same question. NewsHounds discovered that in a 1999 press release by News Corporation, Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal owned more than 5% of FOX News Channel's parent company.

"AIM on Dec. 7th, urged a full inquiry into a report that a Saudi billionaire caused the Fox News Channel (FNC) to dramatically alter its coverage of the Muslim riots in France after he called the network to complain. The Saudi billionaire, Al-waleed bin Talal, is a friend of News Corporation chairman Rupert Murdoch and controls an influential number of voting shares in the company."

Nice work Sean. Newshounds has more...