Fox vs. CNBC? Now That Would Be a Grudge Match

[LiviaOlivia]

The New York Times
March 6, 2005
Fox vs. CNBC? Now That Would Be a Grudge Match
By JOHN MOTAVALLI

THE cable business channel CNBC contributed more than $250 million in profit last year to the coffers of General Electric, its parent company. It did so while attracting a tiny audience that is at best just over 200,000 viewers.

That quarter of a billion dollars, a product of one of the highest profit margins in cable, is an enviable bounty. The News Corporation has certainly noticed. Its chairman, Rupert Murdoch, and his combative lieutenant, Roger Ailes, who leads its Fox News division, are considering whether to add their own cable business channel. And, in typical fashion, their goal would be not only to compete with CNBC, but also to crush it.

Brian Jones, the vice president for development at Fox News, would not confirm last week that plans to push ahead with the business station were set. But if a battle ensues, it may turn into one of the biggest dramas in broadcasting since Ted Turner lost control of his empire. It would be fueled by some lingering personal animus: Mr. Ailes, now the Fox News chairman, led CNBC during its formative years, but he quit when he was not given responsibility for MSNBC.

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To successfully challenge CNBC, Fox News would have to contend with the forces that did in CNNfn: viewers who have shown less interest in business news since the bursting of the market bubble, and a cable and advertising marketplace that can accommodate a limited number of business channels. Besides CNBC, there is CNBC World, a sister channel that is distributed internationally, and Bloomberg TV, a business channel run by Bloomberg L.P., the financial information company.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/06/business/yourmoney/06cnbc.html