Maddow gets MSNBC anchor post

NEW YORK, Aug. 19 (UPI) -- Dan Abrams is out and Rachel Maddow is in as show host for the U.S. all-news network MSNBC, which said Tuesday it is shaking up it prime-time line-up.

Abrams, a longtime host and one-time general manager of the network, will anchor his last show Thursday. Maddow will begin her replacement program Sept. 8, after the network's coverage of the 2008 Democratic and Republican national conventions, The New York Times reported.

Sources told the Times Abrams is well liked at MSNBC, and so will probably remain there in some capacity, as well as at NBC News, where he is the broadcast network's chief legal correspondent. The newspaper said Abrams also will serve as a daytime anchor for MSNBC and as a substitute host on NBC's "Weekend Today" show.

The network has increasingly turned to Maddow as both a guest and a substitute for Keith Olbermann, MSNBC's most popular anchor. Olbermann's emergence as a bona fide star, coupled with his liberal politics, has led to an unofficial rebranding of MSNBC as a liberal alternative to Fox News, the Times said.