CNBC-Fox Business Network 'battle' is overblown


When Fox Busines Network debuts on October 15, it will be a fly buzzing around the elephant that is CNBC. All the talk about the looming war, battle, or clash of the titans is hype.

As BusinessWeek points out, Fox Business Network will have one-third of CNBC's reach and will also lag behind Bloomberg TV. News Corp. (NYSE: NWS) Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch has said his channel will be geared toward Main Street instead of CNBC's Wall Street focus. I don't know what that statement means. CNBC's mission is to try and convince individual investors they must act RIGHT NOW to avoid financial ruin or to gain immediate riches. That seems to speak directly to Main Street.

Murdoch, though, is a patient man. People thought he was nuts to take on Time Warner Inc.'s (NYSE: TWX) CNN, and now Fox News rules the ratings. He keeps the New York Post going because he wants to stick it to the liberal media establishment A.K.A. The New York Times. Power motivates him almost as much as money. That's why the media tycoon doesn't care if Fox Business News isn't immediately profitable or even if it takes some time to get into the black. He's trying to prove a point.

The biggest challenge facing Fox Business News is the same one facing the General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) cable channel: attracting an audience. For most people who don't read stock market blogs, business news is pretty dry stuff. That's why CNBC's anchors always yell the news written in their teleprompters to make things seem more exciting.

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