Recently the ousted CBS news hero starts his weekly newsmagazine show "Dan Rather Reports" on HDNet, now reaching 4 million cable and satellite TV homes. Can it be a commercial success?
November 14, 2006 (Press Release) --
Mark Cuban is the billionaire who hired Dan Rather to do news reports on cable station HDNet. Cuban owns the Dallas Mavericks. So, Rather thought it would be a nice perk if Cuban named him "visiting consultant" for the basketball team.
But Cuban didn't buy Rather's argument of "I played a little bit when I was younger."
"Let me put it this way," Rather says. "When I mentioned the possibilities of building in season tickets to the Mavericks -- into the contract -- it got pretty frosty and cold."
Ever the newsman, just to be accurate, Rather says, "I'm half-joking about this."
Tonight, the ousted CBS news hero starts his weekly newsmagazine show "Dan Rather Reports" on HDNet, now reaching 4 million cable and satellite TV homes. Can it be a commercial success?
The short answer is that Cuban isn't looking for ratings or ad dollars, yet. HDNet earns money from cable and satellite providers.
"He's not trying to create a new CNN," Rather says. "His business model is much closer to HBO or Showtime."
Cuban and Rather, 75, have similar visions. They want to present in-depth and investigative reports in the hard-edged style of traditional journalism, as a form of public service.
"Dan Rather Reports," airing at 7 p.m. Tuesdays, won't be about murders of the week, or putting political foes in one room "and letting them bloviate," Rather says.
"I don't want us," he says, "to just blather in the studio."
The show will virtually ignore celebrities.
"We've reached the point now where it's a tsunami of entertainment bias sweeping away news," he says. "I have no interesting in interviewing celebrities and entertainment people."
Since "Dan Rather Reports" wasn't on TV by Election Night last week, Rather served as a special correspondent on "The Daily Show." He declared of Hillary Clinton's victory: "She ran away with it like a hobo with a sweet potato pie."
Source: http://www.msn.com
POSTED BY DOUG ELFMAN
But Cuban didn't buy Rather's argument of "I played a little bit when I was younger."
"Let me put it this way," Rather says. "When I mentioned the possibilities of building in season tickets to the Mavericks -- into the contract -- it got pretty frosty and cold."
Ever the newsman, just to be accurate, Rather says, "I'm half-joking about this."
Tonight, the ousted CBS news hero starts his weekly newsmagazine show "Dan Rather Reports" on HDNet, now reaching 4 million cable and satellite TV homes. Can it be a commercial success?
The short answer is that Cuban isn't looking for ratings or ad dollars, yet. HDNet earns money from cable and satellite providers.
"He's not trying to create a new CNN," Rather says. "His business model is much closer to HBO or Showtime."
Cuban and Rather, 75, have similar visions. They want to present in-depth and investigative reports in the hard-edged style of traditional journalism, as a form of public service.
"Dan Rather Reports," airing at 7 p.m. Tuesdays, won't be about murders of the week, or putting political foes in one room "and letting them bloviate," Rather says.
"I don't want us," he says, "to just blather in the studio."
The show will virtually ignore celebrities.
"We've reached the point now where it's a tsunami of entertainment bias sweeping away news," he says. "I have no interesting in interviewing celebrities and entertainment people."
Since "Dan Rather Reports" wasn't on TV by Election Night last week, Rather served as a special correspondent on "The Daily Show." He declared of Hillary Clinton's victory: "She ran away with it like a hobo with a sweet potato pie."
Source: http://www.msn.com
POSTED BY DOUG ELFMAN
Email
Print
SPAM
LEAVE A COMMENT
