FBN Toes 'No Punches with Competitors' Line

The anticipated brawl between Fox Business Network and existing business news heavyweight may not be on in the near future, if current reports are to be believed. FBN is a spin-off from Fox News Channel, and is set to be launched Monday.

At the time of launching, FBN would be available for viewers on cable and satellite systems with over 30 million subscriptions. Viewers using DirecTV would get a HD version of the channel.

Kevin Magee, the Executive Vice President for Fox Business News and the man responsible for the daily operations at the channel, says the company is not interested in a punch-out with business rivals such as CNBC and Bloomberg, which is currently the favorite among people interested in the financial markets.

The CEO of News Corp., Rupert Murdoch, summed it up best with his statement earlier: ‘CNBC is a financial channel for Wall Street. We're for Main Street.’ Magee said taking away half the clients from rivals did not make much sense, as then neither company would profit. Instead, the company’s strategy would be to pull viewers away from other television staples such as soaps and game shows.

To this end, FBN executives say the strategy is to air programs that are more focused on personal finance and have content that provides business insight. Programs would also include traditional news from the markets, and also a crawl at the bottom of the screen that would reflect updated stock prices.

Neil Cavuto, the chief anchor at FBN and also the managing editor of business news at Fox, says the aim is to be relevant, passionate, and different. As of now, the company’s strategy seems logical, considering it is a new entrant in the market and is trying to grab some space for itself. While there is the risk of FBN taking away some viewers from Fox News itself, it is a risk worth taking, executives feel.

However, Murdoch is not expected to make FBS the showcase of his global business news empire, though having that status would have meant the channel could play on the satellite TV systems of the Murdoch empire, which stretches across Europe and Asia, and also link up with some of the Dow Jones properties Murdoch is about to buy.

However, what most people are waiting to see is if FBN was actually serious about its ‘no brawl’ approach to competitors such as CNBC, or is it just so CNBC does not start off a campaign of its own to counter the new channel’s launch.

Not many people are sure about anything related to this, because unlike other channels that put media focus on their programming, FBN prefers to keep it quiet and totally confidential.

There are some hints, though. Channel executives are clear they will not be airing any programs that are already being aired on other Fox channels. The company also said ads for the FBN network were not sold in combination packages with Fox News.

There is also speculation that FBN would not be carrying infomercials such as the ones CNBC shows on weekends, though there is not much information available on the kind of program it would air during slow business news periods.

During prime time, FBN plans to operate with a show that has David Ramsey, author of Total Money Makeover and nationally syndicated radio host, as the anchor. From time to time, the network would also have on air Carly Fiorina, ex-CEO of HP. Prime time also, incidentally, happens to be the weakest link in the CNBC chain, something FBN would definitely want to take full advantage of.

While all this strategy is good, where FBN will have to really put on its thinking cap is the programming on weekdays, because for long viewers have got used to tuning in to CNBC and Bloomberg on these days for news relevant to the financial markets.