News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch said on a conference call late Tuesday that he’s not worried about overcoming the hurdle posed by business news cable network CNBC, which has a contract with the Wall Street Journal to provide content until 2012.
Murdoch has agreed to buy the Journal, and he would like to use its content and staff members on his new Fox Business Network.
Multichannel News wrote, “News Corp. chief operating officer Peter Chernin said that he and the rest of the News Corp. management team have been spending a lot of time with FBN executives, including FBN head Roger Ailes, to work on plans for the business network.
“‘We have enormous confidence in their ability to put together a terrific differentiated product that is really going to stand out in this market, generate ratings and consumer excitement on its own,’ Chernin said. ‘And we’ll look at anything that comes from Dow Jones as gravy as it develops.’
“Earlier, Chernin estimated that News Corp.’s total investment in the business channel would be between $150 million and $200 million and that the network should break even in a couple of years.
“Murdoch added that he expects FBN to outpace its rival in total value, pointing to the success of Fox News Channel over its main competitor, Cable News Network.”
Read more here.Â
