The Fox Business Happy Pill Network

(Credit: Fox Business)

The long anticipated battle between CNBC and Fox Business Network finally kicked off yesterday with Fox Business hitting the airwaves for the first time. The Fox Business Network caters to the "middle America" crowd as opposed to CNBC's Wall Street focus and relays news in an easy-to-understand format devoid of technical jargon and Wall Street lingo.

The first episode featured a satellite interview with Hilary Rodham Clinton and one with Times Squares' famous Naked Cowboy, the guitar-playing, underwear-clad fringe superstar. Slightly annoying is the fact that news is relayed with a tone reminiscent of a teenage girl on an excessive dose of Prozac. Every bit of news from the Naked Cowboy interview to the $100 billion fund designed to ease the countries' mortgage woes was delivered with an almost excessively upbeat tone. The New York Times aptly called the station "a blend of CNBC and a fifth hour of the “Today” show— with the underlying political drumbeat of Fox News".

The debut wasn't without controversy making it all the more interesting. CNBC had contracted to run advertisements on both MarketWatch and The Wall Street Journal web sites all day yesterday. Instead viewers saw rotating ads, one for the Fox Business Network precisely where the CNBC ads were to be found. CNBC paid about $87000 for the ads and executives at both the station and its parent company, NBC Universal, were steaming. Why this happened hasn't been fully disclosed yet, but it's not totally surprising considering Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. has purchased the Dow Jones & Company, owner of MarketWatch and The Wall Street Journal web sites, and already owns the Fox Network. Even though Dow Jones employees do not yet have to bend to the will of News Corp. execs, NBC execs wonder if Murdoch's henchmen played a role in this. I would say most likely.

NBC has not yet canceled their contracts with the two web sites.

Via The New York Times

October 16, 2007

The Fox Business Happy Pill Network