FBN Shuffles the Deck

by StockJockey

Monday, May 12, 2008 - 3:14 pm

Can Kevin Magee find a winning hand to play at FBN? A slow start was to be expected, but viewers have been slow to tune in. Not even FBN’s Mane Man Cody WIllard can carry the channel forever.

Magee has his first tweak under his belt, and lord knows it won’t be the last:

Viewers of the Fox Business Network — and it remains unclear how many there are — may notice a number of changes on Monday.

Some anchors, like Alexis Glick, Stuart Varney and Liz Claman, will get better face-time. Some programs will be broken into one-hour segments to make them seem more focused. New programs will be introduced to punch up the hours surrounding the 4 p.m. market close.

“The nice thing about a start-up is that you get to make a lot of tweaks,” said Kevin Magee, an executive vice president at Fox Business Network....The changes will affect almost every daytime hour, eliminating some multihour programs in favor of one-hour formats at pivotal points in the day. The network clearly sees a star in Ms. Glick, a former CNBC host, who will now lead a cast of characters on the 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. program “Money for Breakfast.” She is also the solo host of “Opening Bell,” a 9 a.m. stock market curtain raiser. NYT

FBN needs to figure out what it wants to be when it grows up; turning into the Glick Network is not likely to work. Bringing on Brian Sullivan from Bloomberg and harnessing Minyanville is a step in the right direction, but FBN’s Main Street orientation is apparently not playing in Peoria, or Wall Street. This would seem to be a move away from Main Street and in CNBC’s general direction.

The on-air talent has been mishandled to some extent, and until Magee can find a winning formula, Financial News Network on YouTube will continue to garner higher ratings.

Classic FNN from October 1987

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Fox Business Refines Lineup in Daytime
New York Times
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The content contained in this blog represents the opinions of 1440 Wall Street. This commentary in no way constitutes a solicitation of business or investment advice. It is intended solely for the entertainment of the reader, and the author.

Comments:

I’m sure they will start bending financial news into entertainment and then they will get the viewers. At least that’s what they did for regular news.

Posted by Business networking on 07/15/2008 at 07:45 PM