“The threat of Keith’s new show meant that MSNBC had to spend a little bit of extra money — and Phil was willing to do that,” one of the people said, referring to Phil Griffin, the president of MSNBC…

MSNBC sought this spring to renew the contributor contracts of Mr. Robinson; Ezra Klein, a blogger for The Washington Post; and Christopher Hayes, a writer for The Nation…

The Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas, who said he had been “banned” from MSNBC for a year, will also be a contributor to the new “Countdown.” (Mr. Griffin sidelined Mr. Moulitsas for spreading innuendo about Joe Scarborough.) While MSNBC “has pretended to be the progressive network,” Mr. Moulitsas said, “they are conservative in terms of who they have on and what they can say.” Referring to Mr. Olbermann’s new show, he said, “I think that Current recognizes that there is a real opportunity here for a network that has a real diversity of opinions and voices.”