After months of rumors,  Current announced abruptly this afternoon that it had replaced Keith Olbermann with Eliot Spitzer in the 8 p.m. weeknight time slot.  Read their statement here.  A source told Politico that Current was claiming that the former MSNBC host had "sabotaged" the network, and was absent from the show far too often,  and so was in breach of contract.  An update at The New York Times here.

UPDATE at 9 p.m.: David Letterman's Twitter feed for his "Late Show" reveals that Olbermann "will join Dave on the @Late_Show on Tuesday, April 3rd to talk about his departure from Current TV."  Also, Olberamann on Twitter tonight is tweeting baseball.

Olbermann, who left MSNBC just 14 months ago,  responded with a note to viewers, promising a lawsuit, blasting his bosses (including Al Gore), apologizing to viewers and admitting he had made a "foolish" mistake in taking on this challenge with the little-seen network to start with.  He had an equity stake in the network but long complained about technical problems on the set, including lights going out on several occasions.  Last fall he provided some of the strongest, and most frequent, coverage of the early weeks of Occupy Wall Street.

Here is his note (which he sent out in a series of tweets) in its entirety:

* I'd like to apologize to my viewers and my staff for the failure of Current TV.

Editorially, Countdown had never been better. But for more than a year ...

Is Occupy Wall Street becoming more political? Will the next steps involve more focused political demands? What impact will it have on next year's election? What is the connection between Occupy Wall Street and the Bank Transfer Day movement?

Robert Reich talks with Keith Olbermann on Countdown about the development of these popular movements and their impact on how we do politics in this country. Reich believes that "people have economic power" that can be used to move those who hold political power.