CNBC ends “Last Call” after one year

Brian Sullivan

CNBC is cutting “Last Call,” the outlet’s second attempt in recent months to offer business-news programming to evening audiences, reports Brian Steinberg of Variety.

Steinberg writes, “The NBCUniversal-backed cable network is canceling the 7 p.m. program, which launched in March of last year as part of a broader effort to keep business-news aficionados watching CNBC later into the evening. Executives have determined viewers aren’t interested enough in news at that time, and intend to replace the show with an hour of ‘Shark Tank,’ a staple for CNBC in nighttime hours.

“Anchor Brian Sulliivan is expected to stay with CNBC, according to a person familiar with the matter, and the network aims to find positions for the ten or so staffers who worked on the show. CNBC has recently placed new emphasis on developing distinct topic verticials, like sports, in which its viewers might have interest.”

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Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.