CNBC cuts "On the Money," adjusts primetime schedule

Jacques Steinberg of the New York Times writes Thursday afternoon that CNBC has cut its two-year old “On the Money” show from its early primetime schedule, effective Oct. 10, and made other changes to its schedule.

Steinberg wrote, “The program’s pending departure is one of a series of programming changes CNBC is planning, as the Oct. 15 debut of the Fox Business Channel draws near. In place of ‘On the Money’ at 7 p.m., the official said, CNBC is moving in ‘Kudlow & Company,’ which can currently be seen at 5 p.m. In its place at 5, CNBC is installing ‘Fast Money,’ the traders’ roundtable led by Dylan Ratigan, which currently appears at 8 p.m. — and still will, in rebroadcasts.

“Left to be determined is the next assignment for Melissa Francis, the anchor of ‘On the Money,” who was originally paired with Mr. Ratigan until he departed in January for ‘Fast Money.’

“The official said that the decision to jettison ‘On the Money’ — the channel is apparently stopping short of calling it an outright cancellation — had less to do with its performance and more to do with a desire to showcase Larry Kudlow, an economist whose portfolio includes the 2008 presidential election, and Mr. Ratigan, whose profile is on the rise.”

Read more here. In September, “On the Money” was scratching — meaning its audience was too low to be measured by Nielsen — 64 percent of the time, “Fast Money” scratches 48 percent of the time and Jim Cramer‘s “Mad Money” is scratching 70 percent of the time. A CNBC show scratches when it is below 51,000 viewers in the 25-54 demographic.