Friendlier to the business world than CNBC?!?

[Svenwulf]

as if that were possible!

Murdoch sees fall launch of biz channel

By SETH SUTEL, AP Business Writer Thu Feb 8, 6:44 PM ET

NEW YORK - Rupert Murdoch said Thursday that a business news channel his media company News Corp. plans to launch in the fall will be more "business-friendly" than its rival CNBC.

Speaking at a media and technology conference in New York, Murdoch said there would be more details on the long-awaited channel announced soon. He said there was a "great opportunity" there.

The project has been in the works for several years, and the company has said it would only get launched if enough distribution were in place. Recently the company signed up Time Warner Cable, a division of Time Warner Inc. that is the second-largest cable provider in the country.

Murdoch, speaking in a question-and-answer session with Steve Adler, the editor of Business Week magazine, said the new Fox business channel would be friendlier to the business world than CNBC, which is a unit of General Electric Co.'s NBC Universal.

"They leap on every scandal," he said.

except maybe bartiromo and citigroup?!?

link:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070208/ap_en_tv/news_corp_murdoch

[TonyM]

I used to think that Bloomberg was fairly good at balancing the neccessity of treating guests and floortraders respectfully yet extracting some useful information at the same time. I'm noticing a trend of self promotion latley, they patted themselves on the back for being the first to break a story the other day and having other media outlets quoting them, they constantly refer to looking at 'my bloomberg' on their monitors, and as I already mentioned to you, that crap about the oxy refinery being re pumped as a story from Tuesday looks like Su Keenan is getting a little to friendly with the Nymex floor traders.

Or I could just be suffering from over exposure to Bloomberg tv, 7:45 am - 4:30 pm 5 days a week might be overdosing.

Still, I don't think I'll be trusting Murdoch for anything better.

[rfi]

Isn't he the same guy that thought the OJ book special was a good idea!! Fox is good at animated comedy and NFL football. Oh yeah that guy Jack Bauer is pretty good as well. I'll tell you this if Homer is one of the guests I will be watching it! That guy is pure gold!!

[aiki14]

Friendlier to business? I am reading tout sheet on that. We don't need a channel that is to business what Fox is to republicans. Less friendly would be better, jumping on a scandal is the better approach. Sunlight is the best disinfectant. I can't think of another cliche.

[GDFLS]

Fox has been talking about this for a while now, I thought the channel would have been launched already.

It will be fun to see who they get to be their Jim Cramer :D

I read another article, related to this story, that also listed the results of a "money honey" popularity contest of CNBC babes, and the fact that Beck Quick CRUSHED eveyone in that pole is great, :lol: Maria must be out for blood now!

[Svenwulf]

i agree that biz news is too friendly as it stands. imo, critical thinking not only demands examination of information, but investigation into it's source. it amazes what passes for biz journalism- i see the cut and pasting of company PRs every day. and i know biz journalists get paid more than the poor schmoe who stands in the middle of the hurricane quipping "its really nasty out."

funny how becky quick ranks highest for money honies on cnbc- she is one of the least annoying (i still say kernan on sqwak is the worst- and he's not even cute, hahaha) if fox does their female biz anchors like their female news anchors i can hear the plastic surgeons becoming giddy in anticipation.

maybe guru has been missing because he is working on his new fox biz show? he would certainly show the jokers on bulls and bears a thing or two.

[BuyOnDips]

I love watching the Fox Business shows on Saturday morning. Gary B. Smith(the chartman) is a great guy. I also like getting advice from Jim Rogers. He's a very wise investor and usually right.

Here's Jim's web site. You might want to listen to and read some of his info on his Millennium Adventure. Some interesting stuff on his travel from around the world.

http://www.jimrogers.com/

[aiki14]

from the Dow jones newswire

Fox's Cavuto Will Be Key To New Business Channel
By Jon Friedman
A DOW JONES COLUMN

Neil Cavuto, a longtime Fox News business anchor, is the network's Man of the Moment.



News Corp. (NWS), Fox's parent, announced on Thursday the worst-kept secret in the media world: that it expects to launch the Fox Business Channel in the fourth quarter. And Cavuto is leading the charge. He'll supervise FBC on a day-to-day basis.



Roger Ailes, Fox News' chairman and chief executive, singled out Cavuto during the announcement. "The resources from the strongest media company in the world, coupled with Neil Cavuto and a superb business team will enable us to create a viable alternative to what currently exists in the marketplace," Ailes said in a press release.



Fox said its business channel has 30 million subscribers under contract after gaining distribution deals with such cable operators as Time Warner Inc. (TWX), Comcast Corp. (CMCSK), Charter and Direct TV. It's expected to launch in New York and other major markets.



Several months from the launch, Cavuto has ambitious goals.



"We're going to be a channel for America -- not for old white men with money," Cavuto told me. "We want to reach women, minorities, young people."



Much is at stake. Fox, which has been No. 1 in 24-hour cable news for several years, is risking part of its reputation with this daring venture. Plus, Fox intends to jar the comfortable existence of CNBC, a unit of General Electric Co. (GE). CNBC has been the most dominant voice, by far, in TV business news.



Fox Vs. CNBC


"I have great respect for CNBC," Cavuto, who worked for CNBC from 1989 to 1996, told me late Thursday afternoon by phone. "It does a very good job and it's an established business channel."



I asked Cavuto if he believed that his new channel could topple CNBC on the first day, given Fox's momentum in general news.



"No!" he said. "They have a huge head start. All good things take time. We recognize the challenge, fully and well."



Hmmm. If you believe that Cavuto & Co. will be overly impressed by CNBC's pedigree, I'll offer to sell you a bridge in Brooklyn, too. I suspect that Fox expects to be the segment leader -- and soon. Its style is to demand respect, not respectability.



A CNBC-Fox Business Channel war could even rival the bruising intensity of the long-running rivalry between CNN and Fox News, the Athens and Sparta of cable television.



Remember, Cavuto is a disciple of the charismatic Ailes. Ailes built Fox News from scratch into the most popular cable news outfit. In a previous incarnation, he ran CNBC and helped it gain great prominence.



Ailes and Cavuto are too smart to say it, but I don't doubt that they would love to knock CNBC down a peg. Ailes is motivated by pride as much as any other factor. Cavuto is too canny to tip his hand and tell me much about what he has planned.



"If I tell you, it'll be on CNBC next week," Cavuto said, immediately stressing that he was "half-joking."



Cavuto didn't discourage me, either, when I speculated that Fox's version of business news would probably look very different from CNBC's corporate-oriented package. When news about the Federal Reserve or a Fortune 500 company breaks, CNBC regularly showcases the headline-maker.



Sure, Fox will air interviews with its share of chieftains, too, but I suspect that it will try a broader approach than CNBC's usual offerings. It would be no surprise if Fox focused on interpreting the news for the nation's huge individual-investor crowd, recognizing that CNBC, a unit of General Electric Co. (GE), has left this market somewhat untapped. Will we see a New York Post-style business-news network? Stay tuned.



When News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch snips the ribbon and Fox officially launches this battleship, Cavuto, 48, will undoubtedly be the key player.



Cavuto told me he will continue to appear as a news anchor but gave no details. Alexis Glick figures to be his deputy. It's possible that Fox's Martha MacCallum will play a significant role in the new channel, too (And I hope she does). Like Cavuto and Ailes, Glick and MacCallum once worked for CNBC.



Cavuto isn't forgetting about the Internet. When I asked him if the channel would have a sizable online presence, he got jazzed all aver again.



"Absolutely!" he said animatedly. "We're going to be very strong on the air and on the Web."



Ideals


The new Fox channel will take its cues from Cavuto's journalistic ideals.



I had breakfast with Cavuto back on Jan. 25 in New York. I asked him what he believed in, as a journalist.



This is what he said: "Don't be pompous. Don't be an elitist. Many in our profession try to sound like the smartest guy in the room. Too many business journalists talk only to brokers -- democratize it. If I'm only talking to brokers, I'm limiting myself."



He added: "ANY story has a unique business angle. I want to encourage a debate. I want to leave you angry, leave you talking."



Cavuto also made it clear that he and his colleagues were excited about the task at hand. Their sense of team spirit was a big factor in surpassing CNN.



"This is a network that is really jazzed about business," Cavuto told me on Thursday afternoon. "We became successful, even in a bear market, because we got into it. We bring a lot of passion."



Established


Fox has the right journalist for the task.



Cavuto has established himself as an audience favorite. For my two cents, he is the premier financial journalist on television -- the closest person we have to be a successor to the business-TV pioneer, the late, great Louis Rukeyser.



According to a Fox news release, the Cavuto-helmed Fox News' business news unit passed CNN and CNBC to claim the top five shows in cable news, including the popular Saturday morning business block. Cavuto's well known business program, "Your World," has been No. 1 in its timeslot for 60 consecutive months.



Fox can also take comfort in knowing that Cavuto is an old hand at working on new projects. He was with CNBC at the very beginning. When Ailes recruited him to join the then-new Fox News, Cavuto quipped, "it was like going into the Witness Protection Program."



But obviously, Fox News turned out all right. Cavuto has learned a few lessons along the way.



"This is my third start-up," he mused. "I'm getting pretty good at it."


(Jon Friedman is Media Editor for MarketWatch in New York.)



By Jon Friedman; 415-439-6400; AskNewswires@dowjones.com

[Ghost]

I love watching the Fox Business shows on Saturday morning. Gary B. Smith(the chartman) is a great guy. I also like getting advice from Jim Rogers.

http://www.jimrogers.com/
Rogers is good. I like the discussion on Bulls and Bears but Cavuto and Forbes are like watching paint dry. I nearly lost it yesterday when Cavuto had to break from interviewing Clint Eastwood at a golf course to chime in about that most important of subjects du jour - Anna Nicole Smith...blech.

My fave advice comes from Jon Hoenig and Dagen McDowell, so the best show is Cashin' In.

The only reason I watch Forbes is to see just how close Victoria Barrett resembles Bridget Fonda.

[BuyOnDips]

I'd rank Bulls and Bears 1st because they spend more time talking about stocks than the other shows. They seem to have a lot of fun too.

I'd rank Cashin' In 2nd. I like the banter between most of the people on the show. Wayne Rogers makes some good picks. Hoenig always has some interesting foreign stock picks.

Cavuto's show would be a close 2nd. It's not so good when Jim Rogers isn't on the show. I wish Jim would give us more stock picks. Most of the time he'll tell you to buy a commodity(buy sugar, buy zinc) or to buy some stock where a full time broker would have a hard time figuring out how to buy it.

Last place is Forbes show. It's an OK show(it can get boring), but they should spend more time talking about stocks. I tape the all the shows and quickly fast forward most of the Forbes show.