CNBC will use Deutsch to combat Fox Business Network

Felix Gillette of The New York Observer writes Wednesday how CNBC show “The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch” is becoming more of a show aimed at Middle America in anticipation of the upcoming Fox Business Network going after the same audience.

Gillette wrote, “Mr. Deutsch leaned forward and began explaining why in recent months he had altered The Big Idea from a straightforward talk show to something more inspirational. Less Larry King, more Oprah.

“‘What I love about the show is that now we call it ‘the daily Roadmap to the American Dream,” Mr. Deutsch enthused. Daytime television was a major influence. ‘During the day there is so much Help Television,’ he said. ‘Yet at night, there is nothing on anywhere that is utilitarian and inspiring. People can be very educated, a businessperson, and affluent—you still need inspiration.’

“For CNBC’s long-term hopes of holding off Mr. Murdoch, what’s just as important is that Mr. Deutsch’s particular Roadmap to the American Dream covers regions of the country far from Wall Street. These days, The Big Idea features a rotating cast of upbeat entrepreneurs—ordinary-looking folks you’ve never heard of who made it big in niche underwear, or homemade maple syrup, or mail-order bouncy balls—and whose eureka moments came not in a New York boardroom but in an Omaha basement or on a Tuscaloosa bar stool.”

Read more here.