Q4 Launch for Fox Business Channel
By Mike Reynolds & Tom Steinert-Threlkeld -- Multichannel News, 2/8/2007 6:33:00 PM
After much anticipation over the past couple of years, News Corp. finally made it official Thursday, saying that it will launch a business cable network in the fourth quarter.
Roger Ailes, chairman and CEO of Fox News and chairman of Fox Television Stations, will develop and oversee the new venture, currently dubbed Fox Business Channel.
The midday announcement from Rupert Murdoch came hours after the News Corp. chairman and CEO said news of the venture would be forthcoming within seven days while speaking at the Media Summit, sponsored by BusinessWeek at the McGraw Hill Building in New York.
At that event, Murdoch said the new network will not be as antagonistic as CNBC, NBC Universal’s cable news service.
“We want to be more business-friendly,” he said at the Media Summit, adding that the Fox channel’s rival tends to be “negative” toward business and to jump on scandals more than is warranted.
Network officials said Fox Business Channel currently has 30 million subscribers under contract through such distributors as Comcast, Time Warner Cable, DirecTV and Charter Communications.
The network -- which will be based out of News Corp.’s headquarters in Manhattan -- is expected to launch in major markets around the country, including the nation’s financial capital, New York, where officials said it will be available on expanded-basic cable.
Fox News executive vice president Kevin Magee will have daily oversight of the service, with Neil Cavuto, Fox News’ senior VP and managing editor of business news, responsible for content and business-news coverage. Alexis Glick will serve as director of business news, reporting to Cavuto, and he will also have an on-air presence.
In making the announcement, Murdoch said, “We have long considered the business-television market to be underserved. Having built Fox News into a cable news leader and a cultural phenomenon against all expectations, I’m confident that Roger Ailes and his team can do the same in business news. I look forward to introducing new competition and a new voice to the business-newsarena.”
Added Ailes: “I’m pleased to have the opportunity to extend the Fox News brand through this new enterprise. The resources from the strongest media company in the world, coupled with Neil Cavuto and a superb business team, will enable us to create a viable alternative to what currently exists in the marketplace.”
Also at the Media Summit Thursday morning, Murdoch said:
• Digital businesses will account for 10% or more of the company’s overall revenue within five years.
• MySpace.com and current digital businesses will likely contribute $1 billion of revenue next year. MySpace ad revenue right now is about $25 million per month.
• MySpace.com membership has reached 150 million worldwide, up from 20 million when it was acquired two-and-a-half years ago.
• MySpace has been a hit on mobile phones. About 200,000 customers have signed up to pay $3 per month for MySpace on Cingular mobile phones in the six weeks or so that it’s been available.
• “The triple play is going to be very, very hard to compete with” for direct-broadcast satellite services in the United States. News Corp. is selling off its stake in DirecTV, the North American market leader.
• The company will have to “try something else” with MyNetworkTV, its broadcast-TV network, which has suffered low ratings for its telenovela-based programming, launched last year.
Ailes Extended
11/20/2008Fox Business Net Launches Oct. 15
07/15/2007Fox Makes Business News
12/10/2006Dish Adds Fox Business and Fox News HD
02/03/2009Bottom Line: Fox In Business
02/11/2007
