CNBC’s new “Squawk Box” set in midtown Manhattan is part of a strategy to take guests away from Fox Business Network’s Maria Bartiromo, a former CNBC anchor, reports Mark Melin of ValueWalk.
Melin writes, “According to the source, the Squawk Box team was said to be embarrassed that day-one they got beat on the Carl Icahn Twitter story by their former employee Charlie Gasparino and Don Imus today. The Fox Business Network show Imus in the Morning, which is now broadcast within a stone’s throw from the Squawk Box new studio, has been regularly beating Squawk Box in the ratings.
“‘Quite embarrassing’ developments, the media source said. (CNBC did break news this morning as they interviewed Goldman Sachs Group Inc Chairman Lloyd Blankfein, who appeared not to back down from recent talk discussing the math behind breaking up JPMorgan Chase & Co.)
“There also could be a motivation in Squawk Box moving, the media source told ValueWalk. With Fox Business Network studios located on 6th Avenue near Rockefeller Center and CNBC’s Squawk Box studios, it might be easier to pick off Maria Bartiromo’s guests, the source said. ‘With (Squawk Box) ending 2014 on historic lows, in order to combat the drop in ratings as well as the fear of FBN and the loss of guests to Maria Bartiromo, they’ve picked up shop and moved their studio to New York City.'”
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