Fox Business Network aims for mass appeal

By Kenneth Li

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Viewers have yet to see a single show, but the power of Rupert Murdoch's name has convinced some that his Fox Business Network has a shot at succeeding, even if it won't dislodge U.S. business cable news leader CNBC just yet.

News Corp's Fox Business Network (FBN) goes live to 30 million American homes on October 15 at 5 a.m. EDT, with a mission to take Wall Street to Main Street and forge a new audience for business news.

"When someone asks 'Who are you targeting?' I say, 'Everyone,"' Neil Cavuto, Fox News managing director of business news, said in an interview. "I don't know why or where it's written that business news has been relegated to ... old white men with money."

FBN's creation defies some well-established industry logic. Business news lacks mass appeal, the logic goes, as evident by Time Warner Inc.'s decision to shutter the CNNfn channel in 2004. The U.S. economy may be headed to recession. And the market already has a well established incumbent in

CNBC.

"Historically, financial channels on cable have done well in boom markets and crashes, and terribly in bear markets," independent network news analyst Andrew Tyndall said.

That hasn't daunted advertisers from putting their money into the ring, even though ad buyers courted for the launch say they have seen little more than PowerPoint presentations trumpeting the past successes of sibling channel Fox News.

FBN has signed up more business than the first nine months after Fox News' 1996 launch, including Southwest Airlines, United Airlines and discount brokers Scottrade, a Fox News spokeswoman said. Sprint Nextel, Fidelity and IBM have signed on for Web advertising deals, she said.

"I would never bet against them with what they did with the news network," said Andy Donchin, director of national broadcast at media buying firm Carat. "They've got a good track record of taking a small thing and making it big."

Some two years in the making, FBN has become a top priority for News Corp after its $5 billion purchase of Wall Street Journal publisher Dow Jones & Co Inc.

CNBC has an editorial pact with Dow Jones that prevents the Journal's reporters from appearing on FBN until 2012, but many expect the purchase to eventually fuel Murdoch's channel.

Few dispute that FBN faces a daunting incumbent in CNBC, with three times the staff and an 18-year head start. CNBC, part of the NBC Universal unit controlled by General Electric Co, generates over $300 million in annual cash flow, according to media research firm SNL Kagan.

"The question really isn't about our preparation or whether we're ready," CNBC President Mark Hoffman told Reuters. "The real question is whether Fox is ready for CNBC."

Cavuto admitted the challenge is "Herculean, to put it mildly."

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