NYT: Dan Rather Considering HDNet Offer From Mark Cuban

Dan Rather Considering Offer From Mark Cuban
By JACQUES STEINBERG
Published: June 16, 2006

Dan Rather, whose agreement to leave CBS News after 44 years could be final as soon as this evening, said in an interview today that he was seriously considering an offer from Mark Cuban, the unbridled owner of the Dallas Mavericks, to be the host and producer of a one-hour weekly news program for HDNet, a high-definition television channel that Mr. Cuban's company owns.

After being told by CBS News in recent weeks that it would not extend his contract on "60 Minutes" past its expiration date in late November, Mr. Rather and the network have been trying to negotiate a deal that would enable him to leave early.

Mr. Rather, 74, said today that he had already been sifting several offers for future work, including two from what he described as major networks — a group that he defined as including ABC and NBC, as well as CNN and Fox News.

But at least as of today, Mr. Rather said, "What I expect to do, what I hope to do, is bring this HDNet thing to fruition."...

***

Mr. Rather said that in addition to the one-hour interview program, which may eventually include "60 Minutes"-style investigative reports that he would prepare, he had committed to deliver at least two documentaries a year to the HDNet. The channel is available to subscribers with high-definition access on a handful of cable systems, including Time Warner, and satellite operators, including DIRECTV and Dish.... (H)e had been given assurances by Mr. Cuban that, should he accept the offer, he would have complete, unfettered control of his program. "It's a situation," Mr. Rather said, "where there are not very large, let me put it this way, 'corporate and political complexities.'"...

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/16/business/media/16cnd-rather.html?hp&ex=1150516800&en=83f6c355e0c698f3&ei=5094&partner=homepage

YAY!!!!!!!!!!!

:bounce:

on this issue for TWO DECADES NOW.

He who owns the microphones controls the VOLUME of all the issues. EVERY DAMN ONE.

http://www.iwtnews.com/home

We make a very small contribution, and my hope is that many more will do the same.

Edited to add (oops, hit enter too soon):
This is great news about Rather; I would love to see him doing some good old-fashioned investigative report and have the last laugh on those who destroyed his career.

Karmic debt repaid to him!

Recommended.

I watch quite a bit of HDNet -- in fact I'm watching it now. HDNet's lightest area is news, so adding Rather would be a big step.

*And* I have Dish:)

I'm glad Rather is not going to work for a corporate news machine. This will allow him to be true to reporting w/o the constraints of the corporate master.

Mark Cuban, :toast:

brilliant minds that would be. I love the idea! (Though I don't have access to HDNet ... what's the rest of the station's programming like? I'm curious.)

Would be nice to see Rather released from those "corporate and political complexities" -- that's for damn sure.

Dan..I was hoping something really great would come out of cbs slamming the door in his face. Like a wonderful opportunity window flying open for him to go through!

on a true news network.

i hope so, but after reading some points from wikipedia, isse he's capable of really cool (work with clooney) shit and really evil (ayn rand?)shit
--
George Clooney persuaded Cuban to co-finance Good Night, and Good Luck, earning him executive producer status.

Cuban's production company 2929 Entertainment, which he co-founded, distributed Bubble, a movie directed by Steven Soderbergh which was released by theaters and on DVD on the same day in January 2006. This prompted filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan to voice concern over this method at a theater-owners convention. Cuban responded by calling Shyamalan an "idiot" on a Dallas radio station.

On May 8, 2006, an overwhelming majority of workers at Landmark Shattuck Cinema, a Mark Cuban owned theatre in Berkeley, turned in authorization cards to the NLRB demanding union representation with the Industrial Workers of the World. Employees cite revoking of workers privileges, unfair raise policies, insufficient breaks, and a non-living wage paid to employees, as reasons for their interest in unionization. <8>
<[br />Cuban is an admirer of the novel The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand and its objectivist philosophy. He was quoted in Slate as saying, "The Fountainhead was incredibly motivating to me. It encouraged me to think as an individual, take risks to reach my goals, and responsibility for my successes and failures. I loved it. I don't know how many times I have read it, but it got to a point where I had to stop because I would get too fired up."

He considers himself libertarian, and treats his relationships to the major political parties pragmatically, but chooses not to become directly involved with them.