OLD Media Moves

CNBC's Mark Hoffman on increased competition

October 8, 2007

Posted by Chris Roush

Television Week’s Michele Greppi interviews CNBC President Mark Hoffman about the new competition coming from Fox Business Network, which debuts in one week.

Here is an excerpt:

Mark HoffmanTVWeek: There’s CNBC. There’s Bloomberg. There’s going to be Fox Business Network. Bloomberg and CNBC have competed for the high-end viewer. With the entrance of Fox onto the scene, does there ever become a competition for total viewers? Will the expanded competition still be all about the business, the market, the Wall Street viewer?

Mr. Hoffman: Let me tell you how we look at it. CNBC isn’t about Wall Street or Main Street. We’re about any street where people either have wealth or aspire to have wealth. We feel that cable works best when it’s narrow and deep. We’re very focused on an investor audience. We always frame that news and information with the biggest business stories, political stories of the day. We like that audience. What we do resonates very well with them, and we do not ever want to put that audience in jeopardy.

TVWeek: What do you mean when you say you “don’t ever want to put that audience in jeopardy�?

Mr. Hoffman: I don’t know that any cable network can be all things to all people. We’re very focused on people who have a lot of money and those who want a lot of money. That’s who we’re targeting. That’s who we’re programming for and that’s the group that CNBC really resonates with.

Read more here.

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