Why is ‘The Ed Show’ Getting Cancelled?

There’s been a surge of faithful Ed Schultz fans posting in social media the past few days, angry that “The Ed Show” on MSNBC is reportedly getting cancelled soon. They’ve made petitions, too, encouraging MSNBC and their parent-company, Comcast, to keep Schultz on the air. Even 2016 presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has come to Schultz’s defense, saying that he’s “very disappointed that Comcast chose to remove Ed Schultz from its lineup. We need more people who talk about the real issues facing our country, not fewer.”

Neither MSNBC nor Comcast have openly confirmed that Schultz’s show is being cancelled, and as such, they haven’t been forthcoming with their rationale for doing so. One reason is pretty obvious, though: The Ed Show hasn’t exactly performed in a stellar fashion. It’s been trailing in demo ratings for more than a year, since it landed the #3 spot in July 2014 after moving to its current time slot. Compounding the issue is the fact that MSNBC has been struggling with ratings for years; getting rid of low-ratings programs, despite how loyal their fans are, does make sense if you hope to revitalize a network and make it competitive. It doesn’t make sense if you want your network to stay honest and tell it like it is, but that’s a different story.

But there’s another, more sinister theory floating around the Internet: did Comcast order Ed Schultz’s firing based on his disagreements with the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal? That theory

The real reason behind The Ed Show’s cancellation, if that cancellation does indeed happen, might remain a mystery well after he’s off the air. Yes, his ratings are poor, but not really poor enough to warrant cancellation. Fire a few producers? Sure, but cancelling the show is throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Is Comcast so sinister that they would forcefully silence a broadcaster over a single trade deal? Anyone that has ever dealt with Comcast customer service would probably agree that it’s a possibility, though companies like Comcast haven’t historically cared too much about their public image or what Americans think about a given subject they’ve deemed important. The truth is that we simply don’t know why Ed Schultz’s program is being cancelled, or whether or not MSNBC or Comcast has made any final decisions on the matter. I suppose we’ll just have to wait and see what happens next.

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