In the course of cheerleading the launch of Fox Business (the channel that sees the pro-capitalism CNBC as not being enough of The Enron Channel). Hugh Hewitt writes:
For whom does the bell toll? It tolls for CNBC.
What’s next for Fox? Don’t rest easy, ESPN. Talking heads are talking heads.
Let’s put aside whether Fox Business will win or lose (Fox News largely won because CNN and MSNBC were totally asleep at the wheel, and continue to be so) but what Hewitt is saying: ESPN better watch out because Fox might chose to go head to head with them.
Except, this happened already. And Fox failed. From 1996 to 2002, Fox Sports ran a program called National Sports Report that was designed to go head to head with ESPN’s signature show, Sportscenter. They even hired one of the guys who had built up the Sportscenter franchise – you may have heard of him: Keith Olbermann. It failed. The Sportscenter crowd turned out to be too tied in to their "home station" (and for better or worse, Sportscenter is always changing up its content, something MSNBC/CNN could learn) and Fox Sports Net reverted to its current regional focus because they couldn’t beat ESPN.
It’s a little thing, but Hewitt could have easily known this without shooting off at the mouth.
The problem with Fox Business, if it’s going to be run like Fox News, is that it will fail the business community. People who run and participate in corporate America don’t like slant. They don’t want good news — they want the truth. Good news doesn’t help the bottom line if it’s sugar-coated horsehockey.
One good thing could come from Fox Business News, they could pull Larry Kudlow (come out of the closet already Larry) away from CNBC.