Fox Business Network is a United States-based cable and satellite news channel that commenced broadcasting on October 15, 2007.[1] It is owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. The network discusses business and financial news and currently is available to more than 30 million residents in the U.S.[2]
History
News Corp chairman Rupert Murdoch confirmed the launch at his keynote address at the 2007 McGraw-Hill Media Summit on February 8, 2007. Day-to-day operations are run by Kevin Magee, executive vice president of Fox News; Neil Cavuto manages content and business news coverage. Ray Hennessey directs the FoxBusiness.com website.[3]
Murdoch had publicly stated that if the purchase of the Wall Street Journal went through and if it were legally possible, he would have rechristened the channel with a name that has "Journal" in it.[4] However, on July 11, 2007, the parent company, News Corp, announced that the new channel would be called Fox Business Network (FBN).[5] This name Fox Business Network was chosen over Fox Business Channel due to the pre-existing (though seldom used) legal abbreviation of FBC for Fox Broadcasting Company.[6]
The network is placed on channel 43 in the New York City market, an important market for financial news. It is paired with Fox News on the dial, which moved to channel 44. CNBC is on channel 15 under the Time Warner lineup in New York. [7] According to an article in MultiChannel News magazine, NBC Universal paid up to "several million dollars" in order to ensure that CNBC and Fox Business would be separated on the dial, and in order to retain CNBC's "premium" channel slot. [8] However, it is important to note that FBN is on only Time Warner analog in New York; in other markets, digital cable is required. [9] Verizon's FiOS TV, with 515,000 subscribers nationwide, also carries the network on its premier lineup (channel 117). Currently, Dish Network does not carry FBN.
On May 12, 2008, Fox Business Network revamped its daytime lineup, which included the debut of two new programs, Countdown to the Closing Bell and Fox Business Bulls and Bears.
Competition with CNBC
Studio F, the set for Fox Business Morning, Fox Business, and America's Nightly Scoreboard
Before the network premiered, few specifics were made public as to the type of programming approach Fox Business is taking. However, some details emerged as to how it differentiates itself from its main competitor, CNBC.
- At a media summit hosted by BusinessWeek magazine, Rupert Murdoch was quoted as saying CNBC is too "negative towards business". They promise to make Fox Business more "business friendly". [10]
- It is expected that Fox Business will not be "poaching" a lot of CNBC's on-air talent in the immediate future, as most key on-air personalities have been locked into a long-term contract. However, that still leaves open the possibility of the network taking some of CNBC's other staff, including editors, producers and other reporters. [11]
- News Corporation, the parent company of Fox Business and Fox News channels, has made a successful bid for Dow Jones, owner of the Wall Street Journal. However, CNBC has stated on air that it has a contract with Dow Jones until 2012. One potential issue down the road is the fact that CNBC operates several news bureaus under the same roof as the Wall Street Journal.
Personalities
David Asman, Cheryl Casone, Rebecca Gomez, Dagen McDowell, and Stuart Varney are anchors for Fox Business Network, although they will also keep their roles at Fox News. In addition, Brenda Buttner and Terry Keenan are also on the roster on FBN. [12] [13]
Other anchors named to the network include Peter Barnes, Jenna Lee, Nicole Petallides and Cody Willard. [14] Fox Business has also announced their first set of reporters; the list includes Jeff Flock (a CNN "original"), Shibani Joshi (from News 12 Westchester), and Connell McShane (from Bloomberg Television). [15] The network also added former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina [16]to the growing list of personalities, with Fiorina serving as a contributor to the network. [17]
FBN's control room screen
Dave Ramsey announced on September 20, 2007 that he has signed on to have a one-hour prime time show, similar in format to his syndicated radio show.[18] Tom Sullivan announced on October 2, 2007 that he has signed on to have a two-hour financial show from 10am to noon ET (7am to 9am PT) on the new network. He will continue broadcasting his Tom Sullivan Show on the radio with plans to syndicate the show nationwide with the assistance of Fox News Radio. Adam Shapiro was added to the Fox Business Network to report from the Washington, DC Bureau. Shapiro was formerly at Cleveland's WEWS-TV and New York City's WNBC-TV. On October 18, 2007, former CNBC anchor Liz Claman joined the Fox Business Network at 2:00 PM EDT. She co-anchors the 2-3pm daypart of the Fox Business Network with David Asman. Her first assignment for Fox Business was an interview with Warren Buffett. Claman is reunited with her former CNBC worker Alexis Glick, both of whom worked at CNBC in the late 1990s into the early 2000s.
In April 2008, Brian Sullivan (no relation to Tom) joined the Fox Business Network, coming over from Bloomberg Television. Sullivan, who is reunited with his Bloomberg colleague, Connell McShane, now anchors the 10am-noon daypart with Dagen McDowell.
Anchors/Hosts
Reporters
These reporters are based in New York unless otherwise stated.
1 = also acts as a substitute anchor/host
Contributors
Criticism
Fox Business has been criticized like CNBC[19] for the number of infomercials it airs overnight and particularly on weekends.[20][21]During events regarding the global financial crisis of September–October 2008 however, FBN has forgone informercials and aired overnight coverage from Australian sister network Sky News Business Channel and Sky News from the United Kingdom to provide coverage of the overseas reaction to the events.
In late 2007, in his nightly "Worst Person in the World" commentary segment, MSNBC news commentator/anchor Keith Olbermann named Roger Ailes as worst. Olbermann raised concerns that Ailes and FBN's marketing team used partial quotes pulled from newspaper reviews of the channel to promote FBN. A review by the Globe and Mail stated "They set out to change the face of financial news... and they darn well did. Now, please, change it back." The last sentence was left off the advertisement, which Olbermann said was misleading. [22]
The New York Times, and several other media outlets that day, reported that FBN had registered an average of 6,300 viewers, far below Nielsen's 35,000-viewer threshold. The number was so low that neither Nielsen nor FBN were allowed to confirm the number.[23] The Times and other media outlets noted the network is less than four months old and only in one-third as many households as is CNBC.
International Broadcasting
The channel is broadcast to Australia via the Sky News Business Channel.[24][25] Other countries possible in the future include United Kingdom, Canada[26] and Italy[27], although negotiations are still on-going with cable and satellite companies.
References
External links
|
