Fox Biz

A major overhaul is coming to Fox Business Network’s primetime programming later this month. The network is dropping three shows, hosted by Judge Andrew Napolitano, David Asman and Eric Bolling.

Beginning February 20, the network will repeat “The Willis Report,” “Cavuto” and “Lou Dobbs Tonight” at 8pm, 9pm and 10pmET, respectively.

The network is developing a new show hosted by Melissa Francis, who recently joined FBN from CNBC, that will air at 5pmET. When it debuts later this year, the current 5pmET program — “The Willis Report with Gerri Willis” — will air live at 8pmET.

Bolling and Napolitano will continue their on-air roles at Fox Business and Fox News; Asman will continue to anchor the 4pmET show on Fox Business.

“We look forward to Judge Napolitano, David and Eric continuing to make significant contributions to both FOX Business and FOX News,” FBN EVP Kevin Magee said in a statement.

Fox Business Network, which launched in October 2007, continues to struggle in the ratings. Last week, FBN ranked 89th in primetime and 86th in Total Day among ad-supported cable networks, drawing 51,000 and 56,000 viewers, respectively.

>We just got off the phone with Fox Business EVP Kevin Magee, who told us that the production staffs of the three cancelled shows will be up for positions on Francis’s new 5pm show, as well as daytime positions on FNC and FBN. As for the scheduling shifts: “She’ll do better at 8 than what we’ve had at 8,” Magee said of shifting Willis into the 8pmET timeslot.

“We want to make sure that the people who are doing the best job with the audience and who have the most credibility with the audience get more exposure,” he adds.

Create a social media strategy, launch your campaign, and track the results in our Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting February 16. The online event and workshop will feature speakers including The Onion‘s Baratunde Thurston (left), Facebook’s Morin Oluwole, and bitly’s Tim Devane. Register now.

Neil Cavuto, meet Kevin Costner.

“I think of it as like a ‘Field of Dreams’ thing,” says Cavuto as he prepares to anchor his fourth night of live political coverage (five if you count The State of the Union) this month. “If people see you’re serious, they will come. And every time, every caucus, every primary, every major speech, it creates buzz, it creates recognition.”

TVNewser spent a few hours with Cavuto before and during his FBN coverage of the Florida primary.

On this night, Cavuto’s unscripted, three hours of coverage begins with calling the race for Mitt Romney at 8pmET sharp — “and not a second before,” Cavuto’s executive producer Gary Schreier warns the control room.

Cavuto relies on his sense of humor to keep himself — and his staff, which this reporter was a part of for three years — energized on long political nights. Cavuto’s Iowa coverage went until 2:39am.

“I have to keep that in mind with Fox Business, because I think, what’s our added edge? What do we offer? Besides the fact that I think we have better graphics, and a better package, and all that. And we have me — far more handsome than Bret Baier. He hates to admit it, but it’s true,” Cavuto jokes.

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Fox Business anchor Lou Dobbs was a guest on “The Daily Show” last night. He talked to Jon Stewart about the GOP primaries and the media coverage of the economy. “We just report the facts,” Dobbs said of FBN. “Now when did that start?” Stewart replied.

WATCH:

Ten years ago Fox News Channel overtook CNN as the #1 cable news network, in both Total Day viewing and in primetime. When January 2012 ratings come in tomorrow morning, the network will mark 10 straight years at #1.

To mark the occasion, Fox anchors Greta Van Susteren. Lou Dobbs, Lori Rothman, Liz Claman and Melissa Francis will ring the Opening Bell at the NASDAQ Marketsite.

Fox Business anchor John Stossel told the Atlantic Wire about his media diet this week. He admits to occasionally watching MSNBC (“Rachel Maddow is the best but her love of big government gets under my skin”) and reflects on the recent changes he sees in the TV news business:

It is a little sad how the media is compartmentalized now. It used to feel like there was a community when everybody shared the same media. You had three TV channels and all your neighbors read The New York Times. But it was far sadder back then because The Times covered the spectrum of news from the left and the extreme left and people at ABC thought that was real life. At least now they know there’s a different point of view.

Neil Cavuto, who covered the late, late show also known as the Iowa Caucus on Fox Business, is back at it today on both Fox News and Fox Business.

“We planned this out in a two-fold fashion,” Cavuto says. “First, we go live on Saturday on Fox News Channel at 10aET with a two-hour special called Your Money is Primary, then teeing up our Election 2012: South Carolina Primary coverage for something in much greater financial depth that night on Fox Business Network, kicking off at 6p ET, and going until … whenever.”

“It’s ok, Bret Baier and Megyn Kelly told me it’s perfectly fine to DVR their show (on Fox News), and watch me,” Cavuto says. “Really, it’s true.”

Last night on “The Daily Show,” Fox Business Network host Andrew Napolitano was a guest, and in addition to a discussion about libertarian and Republican politics, Fox News CEO Roger Ailes came up:

“Roger is a great man who has a great deal of respect for our host,” Napolitano said to Jon Stewart. “He has probably told you that himself.”

“Sometimes at night, when I look out my window, I just see him standing there underneath a tree, in the rain with an umbrella just standing there,” Stewart quipped.

WATCH:

While her LSU Tigers may have lost the BCS National Championship the other night, FBN reporter Sandra Smith says her time as a Tiger — on the Track & Field team — was invaluable. “It challenges you, it makes you smarter, it makes you more aggressive,” says Smith in Part III of our Media Beat interview. Smith also tells us why she’s shunning social media, for now: no Twitter, no Facebook. “I would only want to do that if I could give it my all.”

Part I: Monday, From the Windy City to Wall Street, FBN’s Sandra Smith Follows the Money
Part II: Tuesday, Sandra Smith Goes from Trader to Reporter

• This, and all our videos, can also be viewed on our YouTube Channel.

In her second day on the job at Fox Business, former CNBC anchor Melissa Francis was part of FBN’s New Hampshire primary coverage. Francis handled exit poll segments. “We got you here, and just running, sprinting from the start,” said Cavuto, who anchored coverage until 10pmET.

This will make Rupert Murdoch proud.

Outside St. Anselm College in Manchester this morning Bret Baier was doing a live shot for Fox Business. Standing next to him was Rick Santorum — the former FNC contributor now running for president — doing a Q&A with FOX’s British cousin Sky News. Not to miss an opportunity, Baier grabbed Santorum and brought him into the FBN shot. “See what happens? You’re doing a live shot and you get a quick interview,” said Baier.