These days it seems Don Imus’ face is all over television, whether he’s defending himself from charges of racism or being ripped by other talk show hosts. But he’ll no longer be on MSNBC.

One week after Imus referred to the Rutgers women’s basketball team on the air as “nappy-headed hos,” and two days after advertisers began yanking their commercials from his show, MSNBC says it will drop a simulcast of the longtime radio host’s morning show.

“Effective immediately, MSNBC will no longer simulcast the ‘Imus in the Morning’ radio program. This decision comes as a result of an ongoing review process, which initially included the announcement of a suspension,” said a statement released last night by NBC News.

The network insisted that the decision was not motivated by dollars but rather concern over what Imus stands for and how it reflects on MSNBC, which has been on the rise after years in the ratings basement. NBC News president Steve Capus said many of the network’s employees, including “Today” weatherman Al Roker, had urged the network to dump Imus.

The question now is whether CBS Radio, which suspended Imus for two weeks without pay beginning Monday, will stick by him.

The company issued a statement last night minutes after MSNBC’s announcement that essentially confirmed Imus would be staying, at least for now.

“CBS Radio will continue to speak with all concerned parties and monitor the situation closely,” it said.

The brief statement suggests CBS Radio will stand by Imus in the near term, but it leaves open the way for the network to drop him if the protests continue or more advertisers balk.

There's little sign that the protests are in fact easing. Activist Al Sharpton is planning a protest at the company’s headquarters today.

Media buyers have little doubt that such protests have an effect, even if media companies protest otherwise.

“All it takes is half a dozen letters from the public to the CEO of blank company to have them off the air. It does not take very much to get a CEO or chairman or an owner really scared,” observes Mike Poller, media director at Poller & Jordan Advertising in Miami.

That's not to say CBS Radio isn't tough-skinned. It has endured loads of controversy over the years as the home to Howard Stern before he jumped to satellite radio. It currently carries a simulcast of XM Radio’s Opie & Anthony, who were booted from terrestrial radio years ago after encouraging a couple to have sex in a cathedral.

CBS's tough stand has less to do with freedom of expression than advertising dollars, moreover.

Those shock jocks generate loads of ad revenue for its stations. Imus’ show accounts for roughly a quarter of revenue at New York’s WFAN station, according to Nielsen, and he has 3.5 million listeners across the country, according to Arbitron. As of this morning, Imus’ picture is still at the top of company’s web site as its biggest radio draw.

Yet there will be continued pressure on CBS Radio to drop Imus. More than half a dozen advertisers said they would yank their commercials, including General Motors, which was the top advertiser on the Imus radio show last year, according to TNS Media Intelligence.

In the case of MSNBC, its pain threshold was clearly lower, as was what it had to gain by standing behind Imus: not all that much. Its Imus show averaged about 350,000 total viewers.

The network’s ratings have been on the rise since Dan Abrams took over as general manager last summer. Though Imus’ show, which began airing on MSNBC in 1996, fit its new focus on politics, it was not worth the image problem at a time when the network is talking up huge first quarter viewership gains, up 34 percent in total day and 50 percent in primetime.

Even if CBS Radio does eventually dump Imus, he could be back in a year or two. Opie & Anthony resurfaced four years after the cathedral incident, and media people say advertisers may be overreacting.

“As a longtime Imus listener, I am astonished that someone is suddenly upset now. What about all his other rude comments over the past 30 years? In other words, this is just one more example of Imus being Imus,” says Nancy Haynes, principal of Collins, Haynes & Lully Advertising in Charlotte, N.C. “It's much ado about nothing.  For advertisers to pull out of the Imus program is an endorsement of censorship.”