Tag Archives: Fox Business Network
Fox Biz Channel will debut in 2007
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On the heels of Fox hiring Alexis Glick from CNBC to be the No. 2 business news person behind Neil Cavuto comes a statement from parent News Corp. president Peter Chernin, who stated at an investor conference Tuesday that the Fox Business Channel would debut in early 2007.
Media Daily News reported, “‘We just want to make sure we have all the distribution deals locked up…and we think we’re getting pretty close to doing that,’ Chernin said yesterday at an investors’ conference.”
Later, David Goetzl wrote, “Regarding the Fox Business Channel, about half of its initial 30 million homes are likely to be customers with DirecTV, the News Corp.-owned DBS service. News Corp. has a head start in launching new cable channels, since it can instantly give a new outlet distribution in 15.5 million DirecTV homes.
“Since News Corp. acquired DirecTV three years ago, Chernin has said the company intends to use it to launch one new cable channel a year. So far, the launches have included the Fox Reality channel and Fuel. In addition to the business network, DirecTV will serve as a springboard next year for the launch of the Big Ten Channel, a joint venture between Fox and the vaunted athletic conference.”
Read more here.
Fox News signs CNBC's Glick to be No. 2
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CNBC personality Alexis Glick signed on as the No. 2 business executive behind Neil Cavuto at Fox News Channel on Tuesday, a move that suggests that Fox is preparing for the possible launch of its own business network, wrote AP television writer David Bauder.
Bauder wrote, “Glick will help direct the network’s business coverage and appear on-air if Fox owner News Corp. decides to start the business channel. That new channel has been talked about for years, but Fox chief Roger Ailes has said he won’t pull the trigger unless he gets enough distribution on cable and satellite systems.”
Later, Bauder added, “Before getting into television, Glick, 34, was an executive director at Morgan Stanley, where she led New York Stock Exchange floor operations. She switched gears and became a reporter at the stock exchange for CNBC’s ‘Squawk Box.’ CNBC is owned by General Electric Co.
“Glick, who is pregnant with her third child, said she’s looking forward to getting back into a management role.”
Read more here.
Post: Bartiromo shoots talk show pilot
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The New York Post is reporting that CNBC anchor Maria Bartiromo has shot a pilot for an afternoon talk show that could take her away from business journalism.
The story, which did not have a byline, stated, “It is believed that the yet-untitled talk show, produced by NBC, will focus on ‘women’s empowerment,’ according to a report in Crain’s New York Business.
“Bartiromo anchors ‘The Wall Street Journal Report’ and co-anchors ‘Closing Bell,’ both on CNBC — but she has long been talked about as break-out personality who might one day move over to mainstream TV.
“The prospect of a new show is also a way to lock her in at NBC, if a proposed Fox News business channel is launched and tries to poach her.”
Read more here.
Sloan and Nocera assess state of business journalism
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Newsweek columnist Allan Sloan and New York Times columnist Joseph Nocera both assessed the current state of business journalism for Marketwatch’s Jon Friedman in his Monday column.
Friedman wrote, “This is a crucial period in the annals of business journalism, which has periodically been a fairly predictable (though some might substitute the word “sleepy”) segment of the publishing industry. BusinessWeek, Fortune and Fast Company, to name three well known titles, all have relatively new top editors.
“And the excitement in the industry is bound to build soon, too. Consider that even though the outside world knows very little about Conde Nast Portfolio, which will hit newsstands next May, this business magazine has been given a massive build-up by the curious but ultimately clueless media (yes, me included).
“Television news may figure in the upheaval as well. Don’t forget that Fox is said to be developing a channel dealing specifically with financial matters. Meanwhile, CNBC has a new business-news chief, Jonathan Wald, and it’s busily retooling its programming lineup (yes, again), trying diligently for the umpteenth time to attract additional viewers to its primetime fare.”
On what it takes to be a great business journalist:
Nocera: “It requires a curiosity, a doggedness, an ability to dig. Business has a language of its own. There’s a perception that business journalism is boring — and that drives me crazy. IT’S NOT. I think it’s endlessly fascinating.”
Sloan: “It requires the same skills that it takes to be a great writer about anything else. I have to explain to (readers) why they should care. Writing for a general audience is a high calling.”
Nocera: “Allan’s column has a point of view. He drills down like nobody drills down. You always learn something…I’m trying to tell a story and put it into context.”
Sloan: “Joe modified magazine writing to newspapers, as newspaper columns keep getting smaller. He makes good use of his space.”
Nocera: “I hope my editors read this!”
Read more here.
The issues of business journalism on TV
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The challenge of business journalism on television is getting past the visual aspect and focusing on the content, said a former CNBC show host at a business journalism symposium Thursday.
“My three years there made it asbsoultely clear to me that for them, serious business journalism was third or fourth on the list,” said Alan Murray, whose CNBC show “Capitol Report” was canceled 19 months ago and who is now an assistant managing editor at The Wall Street Journal. Murray spoke at “The State — and Future — of Business Journalism.”
“That’s not to say that there aren’t people there who do good business journalism,” added Murray. “You can do serious journalism on television, but its awfully hard and there are a lot of things working against it. At CNBC, there weren’t enough people.”
News meetings at the Wall Street Journal discuss with the news that has broken since the beginning of the day, said Murray. News meetings at CNBC begin with what was in the morning’s paper.
“I left the Wall Street Journal on a Friday, and I started at CNBC on Monday and did my first show on a Tuesday,” said Murray. “I was booking guests and pulling stuff together. At the end of the first week, my head was spinning.”
Before joining CNBC in February 2002, Murray served for nearly a decade as the Journal’s Washington bureau chief. During his tenure, reporters he led were part of teams that won two Pulitzer Prizes, as well as many other awards.
Part of the problem of business journalism on television is the Nielsen ratings system, which doesn’t take into account the high demographics of typical business journalism consumers.
“The Nielsen system doesn’t measure people at work at all,” said Murray, noting that advertisers such as Charles Schwab and Merrill Lynch who advertise on CNBC during the day are reaching people in the office.
“The folks at CNBC are first-rate journalists and are committed to producing first-rate business journalism. Sometimes they succeed, and sometimes they succeed spectacularly. But they have a lot going against them.”
Still, Murray later said that he enjoyed his time at CNBC. “I don’t regret the three years I spent in television for one minute,” he said. “If I could throw back the clock, I would do it again. I enjoyed it a lot, and I learned a lot. But we have to think about what we do in as many mediums as possible. It’s about getting information to people.”
Murray said that Fox News has done a good job of torturing CNBC by threatening to start a business news cable channel, but he wondered if they would actually start it because Fox and parent News Corp. are better at providing content that is attractive to a lower demographic. He also said that he doubted the Journal would start a business cable network.
The Journal maintains a contractual relationship with CNBC in which it uses some of its reporters and editors on its shows and has access to some of its editorial content.
Analyst report: Fox Biz News channel to launch in 2007
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News Corp.’s Fox News plans to launch a business news channel by the middle of next year, according to an analyst report on Tuesday that cited recent comments by the network’s chairman and chief executive, Roger Ailes, Reuters is reporting.
“Mr. Ailes noted an early-to-mid calendar 2007 target for the launch of a Fox Business Channel,” UBS analyst Aryeh Bourkoff said in a note to clients after meeting with Ailes.
“Ailes sees opportunity for a competitor to CNBC,” Bourkoff wrote, noting that Ailes was president of CNBC, the General Electric Co.-controlled incumbent business news channel, in the 1990s.
Bourkoff was not immediately reachable for further comment.
Reports in the past month had the channel launching by the end of June, but Ailes quickly downplayed that timetable.
CNBC first with Gates news this afternoon
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According to the TVNewser, cable channel CNBC was the first to break the news that Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates would step away from day-to-day operations of the software company to spend more time running his multi-billion dollar charity.
TVNewser reported, “CNBC was first with the Bill Gates news this afternoon. (New senior VP Jonathan Wald ran into the control room to cut short an interview and get the Gates news on air, a tipster says.) Fox News is supposed to be airing business news at 4pm, but Neil Cavuto was a minute and a half behind CNBC with the announcement. (Updated at 7:02pm.)
“FNC still beat the other cable news nets. CNN aired part of Gates’ announcement, but MSNBC didn’t, even though the channel used to be a 50/50 partnership between Microsoft and NBC…”
Why did the Dow Jones fall today?
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According to the News Hounds web site, which tracks the Fox News channel, Neil Cavuto doesn’t understand why the stock market fell on Wednesday.
It wrote, “Neil Cavuto opened his show today (June 7, 2006) with a shot of the ‘big board’ and ‘news’ that the Dow was down and ‘earlier gains’ were erased by the anthrax scare at the British parliament.
“Comment: I searched high and low through the business news sites and couldn’t find any reference whatsoever to the Dow falling due to that scare. It fell due to inflation fears and concern that the economy is slowing. Fear (closely followed by hate), is the #1 topic on the Bush News channel and the #1 priority of the ‘business news’ department (which Cavuto heads) is hiding how The Decider has screwed up the economy. Cavuto’s opening must have been a no-brainer for the foxes guarding The Decider’s hen house.”
I’ve always hated market coverage that speaks with authority as to why the market rises or falls on a certain day. Does anyone really know?
Ailes: Fox Biz Channel won't start soon
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Broadcasting & Cable reports that Fox News chairman Roger Ailes is downplaying reports last week that the Fox Business Channel was getting ready to launch later this month.
B&C reported, “Hoping to reel in the rumors, Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes tells Flash! that he’s not even close—no programming plans, no staff, nada. ‘If it’s imminent,’ he says, ‘it’s imminent without me.’
“The idea for the channel has been gestating since 2001. News Corp. chief Rupert Murdoch began pushing for it in 2004, but Ailes is reluctant to proceed unless wide distribution is assured: ‘I’m not interested in wandering around in the wilderness for a long time trying to beg people for subscribers.’
“Negotiations are tied up in renewal deals for the core channel. Fox News’ initial 10-year deals, at 25¢ monthly per subscriber, are expiring, and the network wants to up its license fee, big time: $1 per sub.”
Read more here.
How CNBC is getting retooled
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The Washington Post’s Howard Kurtz takes a look at how Jonathan Wald and Josh Howard are attempting to remake business news cable channel CNBC to make it hipper in his Monday Media Notes column.
“‘We don’t have to do a piece on Britney Spears because we need to drag in the 18-to-49-year-olds,’ Howard says. ‘It’s a huge advantage.’
“Since its core mission is to cover Wall Street and corporate America, CNBC’s fate is tied to public interest in the markets. So executives are trying to dream up new programming that will get more people into the cable tent. ‘We’d like everybody who has even a passing interest in business and markets and investment,’ says Mark Hoffman, who took over as CNBC president last year and would face stiff competition if Fox News follows through on plans for a business channel.
“Hoffman wanted the evening lineup to reflect the network’s core identity. CNBC’s prime time has had more than its share of failures, including shows hosted by Dennis Miller and John McEnroe, leaving the channel turning to reruns of Conan O’Brien and ‘The Apprentice’ and looking very much out of gas.”
Read more here.