"Fox Biz Ekes Out Another Web Win Over CNBC"

If the topic du jour is why GE stock is plummeting, one other place to look for a partial explanation is Jeff Bercovici's
blog posting today, revealing how FoxBusiness.com is beating out CNBC.com for web hits. The Cable Gamer realizes that Fox Business News has, shall we say, underperformed, but nobody thinks that Roger Ailes can be so easily beaten--so stay tuned, Cable Gamers.

Indeed, the data that Jeff has uncovered suggests that FBN is already more of a force than most media pundits have reckoned.

"CNBC Threatens Fox Guests"

That's the headline atop a blog called 24/7 Wall Street. And here's the item, in full:

Perhaps GE (GE) unit CNBC should let Fox Business succeed or fail on its own merits. Threatening guests who appear on Fox with banning them from CNBC seems a bit thuggish.

In a note to Fox producers an executive at Jefferies & Co. said he could not appear on the new network without losing his place on CNBC. Arthur R. Hogan, the Director, Global Equity Product at the investment bank wrote Fox "CNBC has put pressure on me not to do spots for any other business news stations."

CNBC executive editor Nick Dunn must not think he can compete with Fox head-to-head. In another e-mail quoted by "Inside Cable News" he wrote a guest “Saw you on the new network. Please don’t make that a regular thing."

Lovely manners, Nick

Douglas A. McIntyre.

I report, with help from the always must-read Inside Cable News--you decide!

Cody Willard on "Foxy Business News"

Interesting piece on Cody Willard, co-host of Fox Business News' "Happy Hour," along with Rebecca Gomez. I confess I didn't know much about Cody, other than his fabulous Fabio-like hair. And yet why not, The Cable Gamer wants to know? Why shouldn't the male anchors be just a bit on the dreamy side. I know a lotta girls who would be happy to spend an hour with Cody!

Cody is from New Mexico, before making a fortune on Wall Street, and then turning to TV. This feature profile piece, appearing in The Albuquerque Journal,is lamentably behind a subscription wall, but here it is, "Ruidoso Native Cody Willard Is the Talk of Wall Street" because the piece, by Tracy Dingmann, is pretty interesting, and information wants to be free! (Ruidoso, btw, is a about 100 miles south of ABQ.)

Every evening at 5, lanky former Lobo basketball player Cody Willard bellies up to the bar, schmoozing about the just-concluded markets on Wall Street with anyone who will listen.
But Willard isn't just some schmo— the New Mexico native is the host of "Happy Hour" on the new Fox Business Network, a show broadcast live across the country every evening from the storied Bull and Bear tavern at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in midtown Manhattan.
The playful yet informative show features the outgoing Willard and his dishy co-host, Rebecca Gomez, as they interview guests ranging from celebrity chefs to porn stars to actual financial experts. Since its debut this past September, the exuberant "Happy Hour" has drawn raves from the normally brutal New York media.
The show— and Willard specifically— also have elicited positive buzz from the Wall Street Journal, New York Magazine, The New York Times and Gawker.com.
Newsweek magazine, citing the youth, good looks and general rowdiness of the "Happy Hour" hosts, suggested the new Fox network should be called "Foxy Business News."
There is a decidedly youth-oriented aspect to "Happy Hour," a look that wasn't achieved by accident, says Willard, 35.
"The six people who produce the show are 32 years and younger. The team is a young team, and it really stands out on the air."
More specifically, says Willard, "I'm surrounded by beautiful women all day, every day."
From bench to star
Not bad for a Ruidoso native who rode the bench for one miserable year as a walk-on under former University of New Mexico coach Dave Bliss.
So how did Willard rebound so nicely from his less-than-stellar college basketball career?
He took his degree in economics from UNM and ran with it. After graduating in 1996, Willard moved to New York and starting working for the money management firm Oppenheimer & Co.
In 2002 he launched his own sucessful money management company, CL Willard Capital, which quickly drew the attention of high-profile Wall Streeters. Willard was asked to write a monthly investment column for The Financial Times and TheStreet.com and was a regular guest on CNBC's "Kudlow & Company"— the host of which, Lawrence Kudlow, jokingly dubbed Willard "the James Dean of Telecom."
Willard was young, rich and smart— and then he got his own TV show.
"For the last 11 years, I feel like I've been on scholarship for the first time in my life," says Willard in a recent telephone interview from New York, contrasting his experience as a walk-on basketball player at UNM.

The Midas touch
It does appear Willard is living a charmed life. He lives in a giant artist's loft with tin ceilings in the heart of SoHo, surrounded by upscale shops and restaurants. He has put his money management career on hold for now— but it looks like the chance he took on a television career has paid off. Willard confesses he still can't believe the show has attracted such positive attention.
"You know, I've got to be waiting for that shoe to drop at some point," he says. "At some point, I've got to do something wrong. The media has been very nice to me."
Willard says he's at a loss to explain his appeal, but the consensus among TV critics seems to be that he grabs people's attention with his offbeat looks and exuberance, then wins their trust with his candor and expertise.
"What I strive to bring to the table is just the Ruidoso attitude of just calling it like I see it and being open and honest about any topic," he told the Journal.

Basketball bummer
Willard is proud to be from New Mexico and still keeps close ties to Ruidoso, where his parents live. His father, Lynn, runs the Ruidoso Animal Clinic there.
"It's a 30-year growth business. It's always made money— it's never had a down year," says Willard proudly.
His mother, Donna, teaches English to seniors at his alma mater, Ruidoso High School, and "is the gatekeeper to getting out of town," he jokes.
Willard isn't so proud of being a Lobo under Bliss, who Willard says he feels was "not forthright" with him.
According to UNM records, Willard played a total of seven minutes in five games. He doesn't hold back about Bliss in his regular blog, CodyWillard.com.
Because of his disgust with his experience, Willard says he has never watched another college basketball game.
For someone who attracts so much attention from the ladies, Willard has nothing serious to report in that department.
"I've had great girlfriends over the years and they never worked out," he says. "We have beautiful women on the show constantly, and people are always asking, 'When are you going to ask out one of the guests?' So far I've gone two months without asking anyone out. You can pretty much ask most people. I've never been a player."

It can't last forever
So what does Willard see in his future?
"I still have my money management company but I recognize that I can't do an objective news show and still have skin in the game in that way," he says. "Plus, you can't manage money unless you're bleeding for it every day. And I can't manage money every day if I have a TV show."
Willard says he would like things to slow down a bit and doesn't think of being on television as a long-term profession.
"I also need a life," he says. "It would be nice to slow things down. I have a three-year contract with Fox, but I don't control my destiny here in many ways. They're my bosses now. I'm working for the man.
"If this thing falls apart, if TV is not for me, I'm coming home to Ruidoso to coach high school basketball."

How's CNBC Doing Against Fox Biz?

Absent ratings for Fox Business News--still months away--it's hard to know exactly what's happening out there in this latest Cable Game showdown, between CNBC and FBN.

Bill Gorman, who runs the authoritative blog TV by the Numbers--which covers the Cable Game, and every other TV game, in a blanket of numbers--noted that he hasn't seen a depression in CNBC's ratings, which many had anticipated. What seems to be happening instead, Gorman suggested, is that FBN is pulling in new viewers, leaving CNBC's audience alone.

It's early, of course--so we Gamers have to stay tuned, to see what happens next!

But in the meantime, here's an interesting take from a blog that I had not seen before, Wall Street Fighter. Under the headline, "FBN Starting to Get Out News First," here's thew word from WSF:

I noticed today that Fox Business was way ahead getting out the report just out by the National Association of Homebuilders (NAHB). I turned on CNBC to get their version and I caught Paris Hilton. I think Fox is starting to realize in order to catch CNBC they are going to have to get the news out to investors first in order to build a viewer base. They have been getting flack for being too sexy. I'll take first on the breaking news and sexy any day.

Aren't You Glad You Have HD? Don't You Wish Everyone Did?

If you've ever wondered why Fox Business News looks so sharp on HDTV, it's because Fox Business News spent a fortune to upgrade their cablecast, as detailed in this interview with Greg Ahlquist, tech chief at FBN, appearing in Broadcast Engineering.

Here's a sample:

Could you give me an overview of the technology used to launch FOX Business Network in HD?

: We launched the FOX Business Network completely in 720p HD. We have two simultaneous feeds going out for our subscribers. One is a complete HD feed in which we do something special, which is the FOX HD Wing. We took the sum of both of the wings — those separate from the 4:3 center — and combined them on the side to add value with financial data for HD viewers. We also do a standard 4:3 center cut for the SD audience.

The studios and all of the cameras, the systems in the studios and the graphics system are all HD. We are using Evertz converters, Sony switchers, Viz graphics and Ikegami studio cameras for the HD conversion.

This is all pretty deep stuff, although even this notoriously low-tech Cable Gamer kept reading because she knows that this stuff is important. And I espied enough references to technology that I am at least somewhat familiar with, such as Apple's Final Cut Pro that I kept slogging through it.

The real point is that HD is coming. It's just that for some, it's already here.

What Does C/NET Have Against Fox Business News? Oh, I Forgot--Everything. No Wonder C/NET Ignored Michael Eisner's Man-Bites-Dog Comment About CNBC

If a Cable Gaming talking head who works for one network praises a rival network, thus damning, in effect, his own network, that should be news, right? I mean how often does that happen? So if Michael Eisner, the onetime uber-mogul at Disney, who now does a small-bore gig on CNBC, goes out of his way to praise Fox Business News, that should be of some note, right? Well, yes, says Jeffrey Bercovici of Conde Nast's Portfolio magazine, and no, says Caroline McCarthy of C/NET.

C/NET?

You remember C/NET? Don't you? Dimly? Yeah, yeah, it's still around, even if you haven't heard of it for awhile. Back in the mid 90s, C/NET was one of those cool San Francisco-based Internet startups, complete with cool Clintonista politics. In fact, C/NET was so cool, back then, that it snagged the url www.news.com out from under all the existing news organizations. For awhile, C/NET even had a gig with CNBC--an early attempt to converge TV and the Net.

But then, unfortunately for Halsey Minor and all that crowd of Internet 1.0-ers, the bubble burst, and C/NET never really recovered. Now in its second decade, C/NET has not developed into an enduring news brand--today, there are zillion blogs that do exactly what C/NET was supposed to have once done. Oh well.

So these days, C/NET is not so much a news site as, seemingly, it is a compendium of ads and what might be called "newsfomercials"--ads and product-placements half-heartedly disguised as "news" stories. Once again, free country: caveat C/NET-or.

But occasionally, C/NET struggles to be journalistic. That's nice, but of course then two more of C/NET's basic weaknesses show through: First, its basic Bay Area bias--total blue-itude, politically. Second, perhaps, the legacy of the link to CNBC, combined with, possibly, the hope for a renewed relationship--that further biases its idea of "news."

So when Eisner said at a recent Nielsen conference that the Writer's Guild strike was "stupid," that was a newsworthy comment, and deserved to get plenty of attention. And both Bercovici and McCarthy wrote about Eisner's blunt comments.

McCarthy stopped there in her reportage. But the more enterprising and thorough Bercovici kept going, adding more valuable detail, incuding a terrific gem of man-bites-dog counter-intutive blurting out from Eisner.

Eisner, the man with the CNBC show, praising Rupert Murdoch and Roger Ailes, the creators of FBN--that's news, huh? Here's the way Jeff put it:

Eisner, who hosts a show for CNBC, on arch-rival Fox Business Network's chances: "It's not crazy if you have [Rupert] Murdoch and [Roger] Ailes. it's probably crazy if you have two other people, but those guys are pretty good. So you can't bet against them."

I wonder what CNBC prexy Mark Hoffman thinks about Eisner's words. No doubt Bercovici is still on that trail, while McCarthy is doing--well, who knows what she's doing.

Barry Diller Goes On CNBC And Praises...Fox Business News!

Barry Diller, entertainment industry legend, recently appeared on Michael Eisner's "scratchy" CNBC talk show. The Cable Gamer didn't catch it there, of course, but happily, a little bird called "bizfan123" did catch it and was nice enough to put it on YouTube.

Diller must have known what he was doing--going on CNBC's air, and praising FBN. One wonders, of course, what Eisner was thinking, or expecting from his guest--and whether or not Diller will ever be invited back. And one wonders further how CNBC management will react.

Here's the good stuff: When Eisner asked Diller to assess FBN, Diller recalled that more than a decade ago, when Rupert Murdoch had told him about his plans to start a "Fox News Channel," Diller had dismissed the idea. And of course, Diller said with a smile, Murdoch had been proven right and he, Diller, had been proven wrong.

So now, when asked about Fox Business News, Diller saw things differently. He told Eisner that he gave FBN high marks "Because Roger Ailes is such a genuine talent...you can't discount what he'll be able to create."

For purposes of comparison, Eisner asked Diller what he would think about a business channel started up, by say, Time-Warner. And a look of horror came over Diller's face. "Oh no," he gasped.

"Sexist banter on CNBC" Where's The Outrage? Where's Anita Hill? Where's Media Matters?

That's the blunt headline atop Marisa Guthrie's tough-minded and well-researched story on CNBC's Dylan Ratigan in today's Broadcasting & Cable.

Or should it be Dylan RAT-igan? Guthrie (pictured above) reports, you decide:

On Friday morning’s edition of The Call, CNBC correspondent Melissa Francis, who was reporting on frenzied gasoline trading from NYMEX, asked Ratigan: “Is it as crazy on your exchange as it is here?”

Ratigan’s comeback: “I think if I was blond and beautiful I could draw a big crowd.”

Francis, visibly irked, responded: “That’s not what it is all about.”

As Guthrie observes, such pig-talk is part of a pattern at CNBC. Speaking of Ratigan, she writes, "He's been doing his best lately to alienate female viewers." She continues, "Sadly, such comments are hardly atypical from Ratigan and his band of merry he-men." Here's another one:

Thursday on Fast Money – CNBC’s signature market broadcast which was recently shifted to the high-profile 5 p.m. time slot to coincide with the close of the markets – Ratigan and Fast Money contributors Jeff Macke and Karen Finerman were discussing the upcoming auction season and Finerman’s adoration of investor Carl Icahn.

Finerman apparently bought a painting of Icahn at auction, paying several hundred thousand dollars for it. (Finerman can afford it. She runs a multimillion dollar hedge fund). Icahn joined the conversation via phone – and that’s when Macke took the discussion down several notches by suggesting that Finerman would have paid considerably more for a naked portrait of Icahn.

“She would have gone $2 million for a nude, Carl,” said Macke.

To which Icahn responded: “I would have bid that for (Finerman).”

After more back and forth about Finerman’s crush, Ratigan closed by thanking Icahn for “playing with us.”

But it's CNBC, and the liberals are rallying around CNBC--when they can. But we might wonder: What if these exact same words had been uttered on the Fox Business Channel? In that case, you can bet that Media Matters and all the other liberal pressure groups would have been all over this story.

But it wasn't Fox, it was CNBC, and so only a few gutsy reporters, such as Guthrie, are chasing after the story.

Cable Game Ad Wars -- CNBC vs. FBN

Variety's Michael Learmonth always gets the
good stuff--although, of course, he and all cable-beat reporters have a "target-rich environment" in which to do their work. In its blooming and buzzing abundance, The Cable Game is the game that keeps on giving! That's what keeps me in The Game.

A case in point is this go-round of advertisements. First, CNBC runs ads saying, "First in Business." Whereupon Fox Business News sallied back with ads saying, "First in Business. Soon."

Point. Counterpoint.

This Cable Game is fun!

"CNBC Audience Slips"

Multichannel News' Mike Reynolds has the details, which aren't all bad for CNBC.

Mike reports, also, on something that TCG had been wondering about: Fox Business News won't be Nielsen-ed till next year.

"Rupert Murdoch sketches financial media assault"

That's the headline atop the story from Reuters' Kenneth Li, reporting the latest from the shareholders' meeting of The News Corporation. And here's the good stuff:

Rupert Murdoch sketched out his plans for the Fox Business Network on Friday, saying he will spend years nurturing the new channel to win over more than half of the business news audience.

The News Corp chairman and chief executive confirmed media reports that his media conglomerate intended to invest $150 million to $200 million over three years in FBN, including about $70 million in fiscal 2008.

Aiming to repeat the success of the Fox News Channel, which unseated CNN as the top cable news network four years after its launch, FBN is part of Murdoch's ambitions to build a global financial media powerhouse in print, the Internet and TV.

"I view FBN's growth in terms of years, not months," he told reporters following News Corp's annual shareholders meeting.

This is all cool, but when The Cable Gamer sees articles such as this, from The Hollywood Reporter, showing that Google is now triple the market cap of the News Corp., she wonders what the future landscape of the media landscape is going to be--and who will be assaulting whom.

Jossip Resorts to Reruns--This Is Not Hot!

The Cable Gamer likes gossip as much as the next girl. Gossip is good--but Jossip? I'm not so sure about that site any more. Not when Jossip runs an 11-day-old left-over, using such sloppy seconds, as an excuse to bitchslap Fox Business News. For doing that, Jossip itself deserves a spanking. At least.

It's perfectly fair to criticize Fox Business News. For example, Rachel Sklar, the fun-loving brunette who posts for The Huffington Post, offered a piece on Monday headlined,“Launched! Fox Biz Network Goes Live (With Bloopers).” That's fine: If Rachel catches a blooper, she is free to run with it. If, for example, Jenna Lee (another brunette, yay!)gets something wrong, as Jenna did when she said that Starbucks gives away free WiFi--it doesn't--that's fair game for fact-checking bloggers, such as, in this case, Rachel. Indeed, such flyspecking is actually healthy, in the sense of providing a good feedback loop for on-air talent and for keeping everyone on his or her toes. (TCG appreciates such constructive criticism, too, btw-it's good for all of us!)

But here's the point: Rachel was doing her homework! She was watching FBN--that's how she caught the error about Starbucks.

But apparently, Jossip can't be bothered! Instead, Jossip just ran a nasty item, which passed off an 11-day old item from The Deal.com as if it were something fresh. Now, Cable Gamers, let us reason together: With FBN on the air, there to be watched and critiqued, why would Jossip hang its sparsely worded, unwittily bitchy hat on a peg that's nearly two weeks old? Mostly dismissing an amusing piece in Tuesday's The New York Times by Allesandra Stanley, which referred to FBN as "perky," a place where "the fun never stops." By contrast, The Deal piece was nasty, and yet it was the Deal that Jossip relied on for its own posting. And yet I am sure that even TheDeal doesn't think that an attempted preview of FBN dated October 5 has much validity after FBN has been on the air for the better part of two whole days.

Oh, of course, Jossip made another mention of FBN, citing the same Stanley piece in the NYT; this equally brief and unfunny Jossip item dwelt on the supposedly "gravity-defying bosoms" of Fox anchors. It's worth pointing out that Stanley made no reference, whatsoever to "gravity-defying bosoms," the quote is entirely the making of some Jossipist.

So what's going on here? What is it with such sloppy and lazily fact-free gossip? Why would Jossipprefer to get its tone from a stale piece in an obscure publication such as TheDeal, as opposed to a fresh piece in The New York Times? The Times, is still, after all, despite its many flaws, the numero uno media outlet in the country.

For perspective on this perverse choice by Jossip, Cable Gamers must turn their attention away, briefly, from cable news. We must look over into the realm of new media in New York City. And our guide will be Vanessa Grigoriadis. Specifically, she has written a knowingly brilliant article in the new issue of New York magazine, entitled, "Everybody Sucks: Gawker and the rage of the creative underclass." The headline tells the tale, although the entire 6000-word piece deserves close consideration. Grigoriadis looks piercingly into the hyper-competitive, hyper-nasty world of blogs and bloggers, in which underpaid and overworked 20-somethings compete with each other to be nastier and edger. And so everyone is "annoying," or "slutty," or a "douchebag."

What a rotten, wicked bunch these bloggers are--at least for as long as they are doing what they are doing. Maybe they will clean up their act and shift away from the dark side, but so long as they work for the likes of Gawker's owner, Nick Denton, Grigoriadis is saying, they will be dwelling in websites of slime and sliminess.

And that's Gawker.

Jossip, of course, is a notch even below Gawker, in terms of reputation and revenue.

Which explains everything about this stupid post, whose malicious intent is exceeded only by its maladroit journalism.

Update: Jossip has a new item, on Joe Scarborough's reaction to FBN, here.

The Murdoch Vision: A Global Business Information Goliath.

Even those who hate Rupert Murdoch the most have to admit that he's a visionary. And he's willing to put his money where his eyes are. Two cases in point are his purchase of The Wall Street Journal, earlier this year, and now the start-up of th Fox Business Channel, led by Cable Game champion Roger Ailes.

The Cable Gamer got a lot out of Tim Arango's Fortune profile of Murdoch, Ailes, and FBN, as seen in earlier posts, but here are the most important grafs of the whole piece:

The reason is that Fox Business, whose planning fell to Roger Ailes, the television genius who took Fox News from laughingstock to top-rated cable news network, is more than a challenge to just CNBC's monopoly here in the U.S.: It is the first brick in Rupert Murdoch's attempt to build a global business information Goliath.

Fox Business is launching as another key piece in this strategy, the Wall Street Journal, is entering the News Corp. fold. The $5 billion acquisition of Dow Jones by News Corp., which was announced Aug. 1, should be a fait accompli by November or December (if the perfunctory shareholder votes and regulatory approval go as planned).

Add the Wall Street Journal to Murdoch's $72 billion media conglomerate - which spans the globe from Hollywood's 20th Century Fox to the Asian satellite service Star and its European version, Sky - and it is easy to see how Willard and Gomez's barroom banter are the first steps toward an empire that could one day beam a Fox Business channel into China via Star or launch local channels in India and Eastern Europe. It is likely that will happen gradually over the next few years. "There have been inquiries but no negotiations yet," Murdoch told Fortune in a recent interview in his eighth-floor office at News Corp.'s Manhattan headquarters.

Murdoch believes that the time is now to launch a global business channel, as emerging markets are minting new investors and entrepreneurs every day. He wants to be the go-to programmer for these new capitalists. "There's this constant growth of wealth," he says. "You have 100 million people joining the world economy every year. This is the biggest development in the history of the planet almost - the speed at which this is happening. And while there certainly will be bumps, it's going to go on for another 30 years. Living standards everywhere are going to be better."

If Murdoch is correct--that we are on the edge of a global capitalist revolution, bigger than the one we've already seen in the last 30 years--then his purchase of the WSJ and his creation of FBN will look brilliant and profound indeed.

That's the thing about visionaries who wield real power, as Murdoch does: they have ideas, and they also have the power to put those ideas into action.

Stay tuned!

FBN -- The First Day

The Cable Gamer thinks that the "look" of FBN owes something to the "look" of the Apple iPhone--which is totally cool, in the opinion of this diehard Mac-fan.(Admit it, p.c.-ers, you want one!)

Here, for posterity, is a screen grab from that moment--actually a YouTube grab, thanks to BizFanatic22, a true Cable Gamer.

Have a click, and meet Nicole Petallides and Jenna Lee.

Meanwhile, of course, there's plenty of discussion of FBN: here, here, here, here, and, last but not least, here!

It's Here! Fox Business News!!

Fox Business News About To Leapfrog CNBC?

Broadcasting & Cable is an authoritative publication for industry insiders. The Cable Gamer knows this because she barely understands articles such as this piece, by Glen Dickson, outlining what's ahead with Fox Business News.

But it looks to TGG as if FBN is about to leap over CNBC, big time, on the technology front. Under the headline, "Fox Gets Down to Hi-def Business," here's Dickson, quoting Fox VP Warren Vandeveer, talking about what we'll be seeing--now just a week away!

Fox will be offering a wider and potentially fresher take on the financial world come Oct. 15.

That's when Fox Business Network (FBN) launches to some 30 million homes served by DirecTV, Charter, Comcast, Time Warner and AT&T, giving new competition to established financial network CNBC—and when a high-definition simulcast of FBN debuts on DirecTV.

FBN's hi-def service, which will be produced and transmitted in the 720-line-progressive scan (720p) format, will differentiate itself from CNBC's hi-def service, which also launches this month on DirecTV, by offering a true widescreen 16:9 picture. CNBC HD+, on the other hand, is taking a different tack by placing its existing 4:3 picture on the left-hand side of the HD screen and filling the right side with graphics. Since both HD networks are fighting to get carriage on capacity-starved cable systems, it will be interesting to see how initial viewers on DirecTV respond.

For FBN, the decision to go HD from the start was an easy choice, as Fox had to build a brand-new technical facility to support the network to begin with. Fox's entertainment and sports entities have also proved the production model of creating a single, widescreen high-definition program and then deriving a standard-definition, 4:3 feed to serve analog viewers.

While HD equipment might represent a 25%-35% cost premium over standard-def gear, it didn't make sense to invest in new SD equipment with an all-HD world looming on the horizon, says Warren Vandeveer, senior VP of operations and engineering for Fox News.

“It's kind of irrelevant, because I don't think anybody's building an SD facility anymore,” says Vandeveer. “So whatever it costs, you have to do it. Even if you said, 'I'm going to invest in a new facility, and I'm going to make it SD, because not everything's HD yet'—well, then the life of your facility is just going to be a few years, because eventually you're going to have to do it. So you might as well figure out how to do it cost-effectively now, and at least get yourself into HD, as opposed to having to redo it all later.”

TCG can sorta follow the story up to that point. Then it gets pretty dense, of interest only to geeks--and, I suppose, to folks who want to kick major butt in cable news:

The new high-definition production control rooms (two), master control room and technical infrastructure for FBN are located in space that used to be a garage and lower-level retail stores underneath News Corp. headquarters at 1211 Avenue of the Americas in New York.

Construction of the hi-def plant began in April. A team averaging some 50 people has been working to make the channel's Oct. 15 launch, including on-site personnel from system integrators Ascent Media and National TeleConsultants. Last week, technical personnel were still busy filling equipment racks, hooking up cables and putting the finishing touches on the set.

Key equipment includes Evertz monitoring technology, upconverters, digital-to-analog converters and other infrastructure gear; a Thomson Grass Valley Trinix router, configured to handle up to 150 incoming feeds; a Sony production switcher; a Calrec audio console; Omneon playout servers for master-control functions; Tamuz LCD monitors; Miranda master control software; VizRT graphics systems; Harris Nexio servers for graphics playout; and DNF news automation software.

The centerpiece of FBN's production strategy is a tapeless newsroom system that keeps content in the file-based domain and allows journalists to make low-res edits on the desktop that are then replicated in high resolution on the server. It consists of Omneon servers that both ingest material and play back finished packages and an IBM central storage system with some 4,000 hours of storage, which interface with Avid's iNews newsroom computer system and Apple Final Cut editing software. The tapeless system, which is controlled by Ardendo asset management software and Pebble Beach playout software, links to a scalable IBM robotic data-tape archive. A first for Fox, the tapeless system will eventually be expanded to support Fox News Channel as well.

In its spacious street-level studio, FBN is using five Ikegami studio cameras to capture the on-air talent. They are complemented by a host of visual aids including two Christie HD projectors, two 103” Panasonic plasma displays, a circular LED display that wraps around a structural column, and a bevy of flat-panel displays. The myriad displays are controlled by a small Sony production switcher and driven by a Vista Spyder video processing system that can show any possible configuration of video and graphics.

Integrated Delivery Systems

“The VizRT technology and all the graphics systems within the technology are allowing the sets to become more information delivery systems, instead of just places to deliver the news,” says Greg Ahlquist, senior network director and project manager, Digital Newsroom Integration, for Fox News. “So the graphics that are created for onscreen can be integrated into the set displays, and it's all very seamless at this point.”

FBN won't be doing a lot of field production, but when it does, it will rely on Panasonic P2 solid-state camcorders, which Fox is gradually deploying across all of its news properties. At FBN, a handful of P2 HD camcorders will be used to shoot both HD packages and widescreen SD video that will be upconverted for broadcast. While FBN cameramen are still in rehearsals, says Vandeveer, they have warmed to P2's file-based workflow, which stores video on removable memory cards that allow content to be easily transferred to the tapeless storage system.

In addition to the tapeless storage system, Fox will also repurpose the HD router and digital infrastructure gear it has installed for FBN to support Fox News Channel's future move to HDTV, which should happen next year. In a space adjacent to the FBN facilities, Fox has already begun building new high-definition control rooms for its established corporate cousin—all part of its master plan for hi-def news.

“We've picked the design, and unless we find during rehearsals we totally missed on something, the control rooms are going to be identical, and the technology is going to be identical,” says Vandeveer. “The idea is we want people walking into a control room to be as comfortable and as flexible as possible. So we can put any production, be it an election or a pre-tape for a show, into a control room, and they're all going to have the same capabilities.”

The Cable Gamer doesn't pretend to understand all this--but I will be watching, and maybe, some day, I will get to New York and gawk in on Greg Ahlquist for myself!

Hey Rachel Sklar! Learn Something About The TV Business, Already!!

The Cable Gamer has always kinda liked The Huffington Post's Rachel Sklar.

For two reasons:

First, she edits her section of "Huffpo" with a light touch--allowing plenty of room for wit and humor, in contrast to the politics section, which seems to consist mostly of unemployed Hollywood screenwriters who hate George W. Bush.

Second, she's a brunette, who has resisted the temptation to go blonde, even when the peroxide siren of TV started calling her.

So go, girl!

However, Ms. Sklar does have a few things to learn about The Cable Game. A case in point is this "Eat the Press" item of hers today.

Like all liberals these days, Sklar shills for MSNBC every chance she gets. That's fine, but she needs to know her facts. In her original post, she had fun with the fact that the new Fox Business NETWORK (FBN), not CHANNEL (FBC)--that's fact-correction #1--was advertising on MSNBC.

But what Rachel didn't understand is that such advertising, called a "local avail" occurs when time is bought on local cable systems. It is extremely common in media--all cable media. And in any case, the money for the ad did not go to MSNBC, but rather to the cable operator.

Interestingly, if you scroll through to the end of her post, Sklar acknowledges, sort of, that she got it wrong--in response to a challenge from Fox Business NEWS. So that's fact-correction #2.

Sklar didn't quite admit that she'd made a mistake, but she was, at least, nice enough to thank Fox for the "clarification." More like "correction," Rachel--but we'll let it go.

Just be more careful next time, because The Cable Gamer is always eager to like an honest brunette!

FBN Goes for the Gold--Will CNBC be stuck with Silver?

Broadcasting & Cable, always a must-read for Cable Gamers, scores a sneak peek at the new Fox Business News logo. Reporters Michael Malone and Marisa Guthrie even score an interview with the mastermind:

Ray Lambiase, vice president of Graphics for FBN, who started the project in June, says the gold is a nod to the riches one might garner from tuning in to FBN. The trickiest part was composing something that could work in the various platforms a program exists in today, whether it's on-air, online, or on a promotional item, such as a pen. “Making it look good is tough enough, but it has to work a dozen different ways,” Lambiase says. “It's not one size fits all.”

This is going to be hot! FBN is taking dead aim at CNBC, just as Fox News took dead aim at CNN a decade ago.

Speaking of hot, Market Watch's Jon Friedman analyzes FBN's strategy: to be the anti-CNBC. While acknowledging that CNBC has a huge head start--or course, so did CNN, relative to FNC--Friedman observes that all that is familiar does not glitter:

Familiarity, it's said, can also breed contempt. CNBC's detractors allege that the network has gotten dull and complacent. For better or worse, CNBC has seldom had to sweat over a competitor with the resources and expertise to challenge its stranglehold on the cable-business-news market.

And then Friedman adds these zingers:

Most damaging, perhaps, are the accusations by some that CNBC is out of touch with individual investors' needs. These critics say the network has overlooked the interests of Main Street by getting cozy with Wall Street. (Too cozy, if you believe the critics of star CNBC anchor Maria Bartiromo.)

Yes, it will be good to get a little competition in the cable business game, so that, for example, the Maria Bartiromo/Todd Thomsondoesn't get lost.

To paraphrase the famous Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis, "competition is the best disinfectant"!

Liz Claman on the move to FBN?

Conde Nast Portfolio magazine's Jeff Bercovici has become a Cable Game must-read. He's got some hot stuff on Fox Business News.

Specifically, Jeff wrote on Wednesday:

Earlier today, recent CNBC refugee Liz Claman was spotted in the offices of the Fox Business Network, lending weight to widespread rumors that she'll be part of the nascent network when it hits the airwaves (or the cable wires) October 15.

Interesting!

And here, for the record, is the text of a Fox press release on FBN:

FOX Business Network (FBN) has named five anchors from the FOX News Channel (FNC) business team, announced Kevin Magee, Executive Vice President, FOX News. They join Neil Cavuto, Senior Vice President and Managing Editor of Business News, and Alexis Glick, Director of Business News.

The anchors include: David Asman; Cheryl Casone; Rebecca Gomez; Dagen McDowell, and Stuart Varney. FBN will also draw upon FNC anchors Brenda Buttner of Bulls and Bears and Terry Keenan, business correspondent and anchor of Cashin’ In. All will retain their current roles on FNC.

David Asman is currently the host of Forbes on Fox and has been with FNC since 1997, when he joined as weekday anchor for Fox News Live. Prior to FOX, Asman held numerous roles at The Wall Street Journal including editorial features editor.

Cheryl Casone has been a correspondent for FNC’s business unit since November 2006, providing hourly market updates for FoxNews.com and partner site Yahoo! Finance. Before joining FNC, she was a freelance business correspondent for CNN, primarily reporting from the New York Stock Exchange.

Rebecca Gomez serves as a business correspondent for FNC with regular appearances on Your World with Neil Cavuto and the Cost of Freedom business block on Saturdays. She joined FNC when the network launched in 1996, and prior to that position she was an anchor/reporter at Lifetime Television.

Dagen McDowell has served as a business correspondent for FNC since 2003, appearing regularly on Your World with Neil Cavuto and Cashin’ In. McDowell was previously the author of a personal finance column for TheStreet.com called “Dear Dagen.”

Stuart Varney has been part of FNC’s business team since 2004, most recently as a business contributor and substitute host for Your World with Neil Cavuto. Before joining FNC, Varney was the host of CNBC’s Wall Street Editorial Board with Stuart Varney.

NBC Nervous Nellies Pay Big Bucks To Keep FBN AwayAbout Fox Business News Away from CNBC. If Only It Were That Easy!

What's NBC afraid of? How much money will it give to the cable company owned by Time-Warner--a corporate rival in the battle for second place-dom--in order to fend off the foe it realy fears, namely, Fox? Those are the real questions posed by the seemingly innocuous shuffle of cable channels in the New York City market.

The Cable Game is getting gamier! TCG can smell the fear on the companies that are already competing for the #2 spot in cable news, NBC (owner of MSNBC) and T-W (owner of CNN). Now they are colluding--one getting paid by the other--to keep yet another NBC property, CNBC, from slipping into second place behind the forthcoming and fastcoming Fox Business News.

Multichannel News' digging reporter, Mike Reynolds,had the story first, posting the news of the inter-corporate channel reshuffle at at 10:18 a.m. on Wednesday.

The issue, of course, is that the soon-to-debut Fox Business News has to be carried on cable in NYC--and that cable is controlled by Time-Warner, which owns CNN. Cable Gamers will recall that back in 1996, T-W cable tried to block the Fox News Channel from even being carried, as a way of protecting CNN. It was quite a struggle to bring fairness and balance to New York City viewers, but FNC got "on" quick enough.

Of course, getting cable "carriage" in New York, the business capital of the world, is even more important for a business channel. And now FBN has done just that; it will be right there on Channel 43, thanks to Rupert Murdoch's clout, and Roger Ailes' doggedness, having a much easier time than FNC did 11 years ago. According to Reynolds, FBN will debut in 31 million homes--a pretty good takeoff altitude. So that's great news, because the more the merrier in The Cable Game!

But then, five hours later, at 3:07 p.m., Reynolds came back with more detail, updating his scoop:

Sources familiar with the moves indicate that NBCU paid up to “several million dollars” for the enhanced channel positioning and to ensure separation on the dial for Fox Business Network from CNBC.

Now that's hot stuff! Viewers outside of New York might not care which channel is where on the T-W system, that MSNBC is moving to Channel 14, to provide a sort of beard for CNBC at 15, thus blocking FBN from possibly getting Channel 15, right next to CNBC.

But all Cable Gamers, everywhere, are amused by the thought that NBC would feel compelled to lay out money to keep FBN from cozying--or is it muscling?--next to CNBC. Are they really that afraid? I guess they are! Continues Reynolds:

NBCU officials declined to comment. Time Warner Cable’s Giuliani didn’t specify a reason for the changes, saying only the operator moves channels for a variety of reasons that include “convenience, viewership and groupings.”

Anything you say, T-W!

And in the meantime, CNBC is obviously quaking.