FBN vs. CNBC…
Last Friday, an article in Business Week concerning the upcoming battle with FBN and FNC.
Chances are, though, that Fox’s channel could end up looking a lot like CNBC, at least during the trading day. Hoffman acknowledges that Ailes–who ran the channel for three years before he left for Fox in 1996–tried to entice superstar Jim Cramer, whose high-voltage persona has helped boost prime-time ratings at CNBC. Ailes will probably approach the network’s other brand name, Maria Bartiromo, whom he first put on air in 1993, when her contract expires in two years. (Bartiromo is also a BusinessWeek columnist.) And he may be interested in hiring Liz Claman, the former CNBC anchor, after her noncompete agreement ends in mid-October. For now, FBN’s headliner is “tear up your credit card” radio financial guru Dave Ramsey, who will have a prime-time show. Ailes declined to comment.
FTVLive reports however that nobody has approached Cramer…
An FBN executive with knowledge of the situation tells FTV Live NO ONE has approached Jim Cramer about coming to FBN — that includes Ailes and on down — Kevin Magee, Neil Cavuto and Brian Jones — as in no one on the entire executive team has had a conversation with him about joining the new network.
And as I noted on another article on Cramer’s ratings (as well as last week in this chart), Mad Money’s ratings have hardly been stellar in the Demo lately…
Certainly FBN knows Jim Cramer is on my “do NOT watch” list.. along with Maria Bartiromo.
Comment by Terance — October 1, 2007 @ 11:07 am
FBN is going to reach far fewer people. They need to work on signing on with more cable companies. They are not going to be in the Miami-Ft. Lauderdale-Palm Beach area….a HUGE market…
Comment by cas — October 1, 2007 @ 11:20 am
Ailes wants to get Cramer? Does this writer even know their history? Cramer had a business show on FNC called “The Street”. He got fired, for some sort of shady business involving disclosure vis-a-vis stocks he was pushing on the air…can’t remember the details but Cramer is the LAST person I would expect to see on FBC.
Comment by johnny dollar — October 1, 2007 @ 11:33 am
Greatlyappreciateit, DONG! FBN’s launching with 31 million subs.. 16 million of which are Directv. Now, do a little math, and tell me how many groupies fall in the 15 million cable umbrella. Oh, and how’s that Cablevision NY area carriage coming along? :>
Comment by Terance — October 1, 2007 @ 11:54 am
Miami-Ft.Lauderdale-Palm Beach:5.6 million people in South Florida…lots of others besides old people, and, yes, lots of cash, and lots of investments. It ain’t called “the gold coast” for nothin’.
Comment by cas — October 1, 2007 @ 1:14 pm
I think FBN is up to 34 million now, if Cablevision NY gets onboard which is inevitable, that’s probably another 3 million+
Comment by Lurker — October 1, 2007 @ 1:19 pm
cas: Is there only one cable company serving all of South Florida?
Comment by Ira — October 1, 2007 @ 1:58 pm
Hey gang! Snap out of it!: Don’t be so quick to believe that FBN would ever make a play for the tired names and faces at CNBC. That’s why they’re making a play for Claman: she’s hot, smart and isn’t the proverbial “face” of CNBC. As for Hoffman interviewing at ABC, probably true because Zucker and company ain’t too happy he lost Claman, Insana and Golodryga.
Comment by squeezeshort — October 1, 2007 @ 7:13 pm
Right, i’m sure that every night 5.6 million people in South Florida will stop their lives to watch FBN
Comment by Aaron — October 1, 2007 @ 7:51 pm
Cablevision will carry FBN. An announcement is forthcoming. When you plug in a cablevision zip code into their microsite, it says that FBN will be carried. Cablevision doesn’t make announcements of new channels more than a few days before they are ready to add them. They’ve always done it that way.
Comment by Nobody — October 1, 2007 @ 7:54 pm
100% of the 5.6 million people in South FLorida won’t stop their lives to watch FBN, or any other channel. which channels in which markets capture 100% of their viewing audience? that’s a silly statement….my point is FBN needs to sign more contracts with more cable operators….so they can compete, as far as number of viewers, with CNBC.
Comment by cas — October 2, 2007 @ 7:56 am
as of now, there are no cable companies in South Florida offering FBN when it launches on October 15th.
Comment by cas — October 2, 2007 @ 8:25 am
My cable provider apparently won’t offer it either. Does anyone know if we can watch online?
Comment by Missy — October 2, 2007 @ 9:50 am
How to make FBN better than CNBC? Shorter skirts, full body shots & front-less or NO desks at all. The morning shows will pull all the early “risers” and eager “beavers”.
Easy as pie.
Comment by Roger C. — October 2, 2007 @ 10:08 am
When you plug in a cablevision zip code into their microsite, it says that FBN will be carried.
I think FBN may be lumping Satelite provider DirecTV in with the cable operators. I entered my zip in and it said it was carried but at the bottom it talked about DirecTV…
Comment by Spud — October 2, 2007 @ 10:36 am
I don’t think that zip code box is accurate.. Bright house announced FBN earlier this month in a presser for my area. Yet, when I enter my zip code or Orlando’s, I get the form.. What do you expect from the incompetent “bunch” that run Fox’ websites? More of the same!
Comment by Terance — October 2, 2007 @ 10:58 am