OLD Media Moves

Fox Business Network has been too boosterish

October 23, 2007

Posted by Chris Roush

Diego Vasquez of Media Life magazine talked to Andrew Tyndall, a veteran news analyst and author of The Tyndall Report, about the Fox Business Network launch.

Here is an excerpt:

Do you see any immediate weaknesses that need to be addressed?

There is a boosterish tone to the coverage that is not neutral between bulls and bears.

Andrew TyndallFBN seems to assume it is automatically a bad thing if stock prices decline. In other words, the idea does not exist in the FBN worldview that a given market can be overpriced, and reverting to a realistic level might represent a more efficient allocation of capital.

Given that its first five days in existence–looks like six now–have been accompanied by a sell-off, FBN may have to be more open-minded about the virtue of selling stocks.

Does CNBC have anything to worry about, or do you see these two networks appealing to different demographics?

Even though the two networks do indeed appeal to different audiences, that does not mean that CNBC has nothing to worry about.

CNBC’s dominance in this field has been based on the fact that for the last 15 years or so, cable TV has been the best medium for transmitting financial news video.

In the future, more and more of the video will be streamed online with detailed financial data services, where Bloomberg and Reuters are market leaders rather than CNBC.

Read more here.

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