Fox Business says to lure viewers with less jargon
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Rupert Murdoch's Fox Business Network says everyone has the right to strike it rich in America and it aims to show even the smallest investor how to do it.
Seeking to dislodge incumbent business cable channels CNBC and Bloomberg Television, Fox Business said its rivals deliver financial news in a language understood only by the experts on Wall Street.
In an Internet preview of the new channel, set to launch on October 15, Fox Business anchors said they would appeal to a much wider audience by cutting out the "lingo."
"Nine times out of ten, when you listen to another channel on TV talk about business ... they use a kind of claptrap terminology, or they use a kind of lingo that is unapproachable by the man on the street," anchor David Asman said in a video clip on www.foxbusiness.com that went live on Monday.
"America is about making the market accessible to everybody and we're going to be about the same thing," he said. "Most of the American billionaires started from scratch. That's a great thing about this country."
Fox Business Network and its parent, News Corp, have released few details about the new channel. Media executives and investors are still keen to know its programming line-up and advertising partners.
Fox has secured distribution of the channel on top U.S. cable operators such as Time Warner Cable Inc, Comcast Corp and Charter Communications Inc.
CNBC is part of NBC Universal, which is controlled by General Electric Co. Bloomberg is privately held.
FBN did make clear on Monday that it would dig deep into News Corp's resources to bring fresh business news, including tapping into the soon-to-be acquired Dow Jones & Co Inc, which currently has a news deal with CNBC through 2012.
News Corp's purchase of Dow Jones, publisher of the Wall Street Journal, is expected to close in about two months.
"Through our recent alliance with Dow Jones ... down the road we can look forward to one of the most cachet names in the business associated with Fox, so we have resources unlike any on the planet," said Neil Cavuto, anchor and managing editor for business news at FBN.
PATRIOTIC OVERLAY
Monday's glimpse into the network also suggested Fox Business has taken a page from its sibling cable network Fox News, which trumped incumbent cable news network CNN by touting plain talk on U.S. and world politics.
FBN's Web site highlights small business owners, individual investors, couples planning for retirement and parents trying to save early to send their kids to college.
"Money can be scary, but you can't let it intimidate you," says one woman in the Fox Business video.
Short video clips combine the concepts of Money, Success and Happiness with that of the American Dream.
"The template would be what you see on Fox News now," said Paul Levinson, chairman of the media studies department at Fordham University. "They will present real business and financial news ... but the actual expressions of the commentators will be pro-American business."
Levinson said Fox still had an uphill battle to prove there was a big enough market for another business channel, but expected what he called a "patriotic overlay" to its news would resonate with some viewers.
"If we grant that ... at least some significant number of people on Wall Street are politically in tune with the patriotic presentation of Fox (News), they may well go from CNBC to Fox financial network," he said.
FBN also said on Monday it had hired two new reporters for its Washington D.C. bureau to cover national business topics.
