The similarities between Conde Nast Portfolio and Fox Business Network

TheDeal.com executive editor Yvette Kantrow compares Friday the recent launch of business magazine Conde Nast Portfolio to the upcoming launch of Fox Business Network.

Kantrow wrote, “Like Portfolio, Fox pledges to make business news fun and exciting — ‘You won’t fall asleep watching this; I can guarantee you that,’ gushes anchor Alexis Glick in a promo on the Web site. But even Portfolio, despite great photography and beautiful packaging, has yet to be embraced by the well-heeled masses for which it yearns. Of course, that hasn’t stopped its competition from reacting — Fortune embarked on and touted a slight redesign — and the same thing appears to be happening in business-TV land.

“According to The New York Observer, former adman Donny Deutsch is now, thanks to the Fox launch, ‘playing a growing role in CNBC’s plan to get a little more Main Street.’ Deutsch’s CNBC show, ‘The Big Idea,’ ‘with its anyone-can-succeed mentality, increasingly appears to be aimed straight at Middle America,’ the Observer observes. The show, which spotlights working stiffs turned successful entrepreneurs and a studio audience that chants ‘Millions! Millions!’, is now known as ‘the daily road map to the American Dream.’

“CNBC anchor Maria Bartiromo appeared to be channeling that dream in a recent spot on HBO’s ‘Real Time with Bill Maher.’ Asked by a flummoxed Maher whether he should play what seemed to him to be a fickle market, Bartiromo answered with an unequivocal yes. ‘And the reason is, is that you’re investing in America,’ she gushed. ‘You’re investing in the global story. And it has been sound. You don’t want to just throw your money at things you don’t understand. But if you do approach investing long-term wisely, I think you’ll do very well.’

“The Fox folks couldn’t have said it better themselves. Very soon, they undoubtedly will.”

Read more here.