Daniel Gross in Slate puts forth the notion that it’s not going to be a slam dunk for FOX Business Channel to overtake CNBC the way FOX News overtook CNN. I think CNBC is somewhat vulnerable but Gross makes some interesting points that Roger Ailes will have to overcome in order for the new FOX Business Channel to succeed. Nut graph…

It’s an open question if Ailes can replicate his Fox News success in business news. Fox News Channel succeeded because it easily and smartly defined itself in opposition to what its core audience perceived to be bias on the part of the other networks. But nobody regards CNBC and Bloomberg TV the way Fox viewers regarded CNN and MSNBC. And CNBC has solid right-wing credentials. Mark Haines, the host of Squawk Box, routinely greets his colleagues at CNBC Europe by asking what’s going on in Socialist Land. CNBC’s idea of a leftist is a Wall Street Democrat like Roger Altman. And the network has given over an entire show to supply-sider Larry Kudlow. The gang at CNBC bears some resemblance to the House Republican caucus—an all-white, overwhelmingly male group in which centrists are branded as liberals and marginalized.

Gross’s article carries the whiff of a liberal point of view and that needs to be kept in mind. But one thing is certain. If there’s one thing that we’ve learned it’s that Roger Ailes is no dummy and if there is a way to displace CNBC, Ailes; who used to run CNBC, is probably the one guy who can do it.

Here are yesterday’s numbers. Greta in Aruba had another huge night and her demo numbers beat out CNN’s entire audience number average for Prime Time. MSNBC got beat out by HLN all day on average. Nancy Grace beat Paula again. Scarborough Country’s Rita Cosby special (Michael Jackson’s mother interview rehashed) got pounded by CNN and FOX. A Contender repeat on CNBC beat both Prime News and The Situation. Some wierd numbers too. Countdown (sub host) had more viewers than Hardball (sub host) but Hardball beat Showbiz Tonight. The only MSNBC program to beat a HLN program….and it had fewer viewers than Countdown? Go figure…
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When FOX overtook CNN in the ratings early in this decade, CNN continued to put forth the notion that they were still the network to go to when news really mattered. In the run up to the Iraq war CNN was angling to own the coverage as they had during the first Gulf War, only it turned out that FOX showed that it could indeed mount a credible overseas operation for an extended period. While MSNBC, CNN, and FOX each brought their own unique tools to the table and to get the best coverage one had to be a channel hopper (MSNBC using the live anywhere anytime “Bloom mobile” nick-named after David Bloom who tragically died while on assignment there, CNN with its huge international organization and resources, FOX with its gutsy, aggressive reporters using satellite phones), FOX maintained its dominance in the ratings.
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FTV is breaking news that MSNBC’s Natalie Morales will be hosting the Today Show on Friday. I would have figured Alexis Glick would have been given the shot first seeing as she’s been all over the Today set lately and it’s the world’s worst kept secret that Glick is Jeff Zucker’s pet project.

TV Week has an article on Jeff Zucker commenting on the drop in ad rates for NBC and how that won’t affect NBC’s ability to invest in programming.

He also said there would be no major personnel changes in NBC’s programming hierarchy.

Does this include Neal Shapiro?