CNBC gets a supporting actor slot in "Too Big to Fail"

Brian Stelter of the New York Times writes about “Too Big to Fail,” the film about the darkest days of the financial crisis in 2008 that will have its premiere Monday on HBO, and the big roll that business news network CNBC plays in the movie.

Stelter writes, “CNBC anchors and reporters reread, and in some cases, reshot some of their reports.

“Erin Burnett, then a CNBC anchor, said she had ‘something like five outfits’ for the reshoots, but was ‘done in less than half an hour.’

“HBO, which is owned by Time Warner, struck a licensing deal with CNBC, which is controlled by Comcast’s NBC Universal division, for the footage.

“The film also uses footage from news programs on CNN, which, like HBO, is owned by Time Warner. But CNBC is still the sort of omnipresent narrator, giving a play-by-play about troubled banks and the federal response to the troubles.

“Michelle Caruso-Cabrera and others from CNBC were among those at a film screening in New York last week. ‘As it was happening we knew we were on the front lines of something historic, so it makes sense that HBO would use CNBC as the voice, but it was thrilling and gratifying to actually watch it,’ Ms. Caruso-Cabrera said in an e-mail.”

Read more here.