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At Press Time

Oct 14, 2002  •  Post A Comment

Banfield canceled
New York-In changes announced Friday, MSNBC has canceled “Ashleigh Banfield on Location” effective immediately and named “Dateline NBC” executive producer Marc Rosenwasser to temporarily supervise the news channel’s 7 p.m.-to-11 p.m. prime-time programming. Also, Phil Griffin will become VP of perspective programming (“Imus in the Morning” and “The Abrams Report”) and will continue as executive producer of “Hardball With Chris Matthews.”
Ms. Banfield will continue to do reporting overseas and inside the United States and will share duties as host of “MSNBC Investigates,” which will air at 10 weeknights and mark a return of repurposed material to the MSNBC prime-time lineup, which runs a distant third to Fox News Channel and CNN.
Showtime reorganizes
New York-A Showtime spokesman has declined to confirm or deny that the premium pay network has been hit by layoffs focused on its marketing and affiliate relations departments. Instead, the spokesman read a statement: “As the structure of our business changes, we have recently re-evaluated our current organizational structure. As a result, we have reorganized our staff in a way that allows us to continue to serve our various constituencies.”
Voight to Court
New York-Kelly Voight, winner of Court TV’s first Anchor for a Day contest, has been signed by the cable network as a guest anchor. She will co-anchor “Closing Arguments,” the daily trial coverage program, on Thursday and Friday, Oct. 17 & 18. Ms. Voight, the niece of actor Jon Voight and Angelina Jolie’s cousin, is scheduled to make additional quarterly appearances during the next year in different dayparts.