Can Fox Business Channel's strategy work in a recession?

Joakin Baage, writing on Digital Media Wire, likes what he’s heard so far about the new Fox Business Channel, but he wonders whether its strategy wll be as effective as CNBC in a recession.

Baage wrote, “So, from what I gather, I think a ‘pro-business’ channel is good positioning, but it will have obvious journalistic challenges in keeping a ‘balanced’ and distanced approach to the executives it will cover, as made obvious by the recent controversy surrounding CNBC anchor Maria Bartiromo. While Fox Business News might navigate its way successfully around content issues and seem to seem to have a solid plan of what it wants to be, the main concern that remains is how launching an ‘old-media’ venture fits in with Rupert Murdoch’s rhetoric about News Corp. being focused on navigating its way through the new media revolution, where most of the advertising growth is right now.

“In fact, Rupert Murdoch has already predicted the fall of the networks – in their current form. As consumers increasingly are taking control of media, Murdoch has noted the need for a new breed of networks to form to cater to the way they want to consume and interact with media. It seems like Fox Business News is still very much a traditional television network.

“Perhaps News Corp is holding back its new media plans for the new business channel secret for competitive reasons, but I still expected more out-of-the-gate from the owners of MySpace. Right now, it seems like News. Corp is going to be playing this game on CNBC’s analog court, rather than taking it to the next level on the much bigger digital field.”

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