Fox Biz

In an interview with TheStreet.com, News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch is asked about Fox Business Network rival CNBC:

Question: Are you annoyed you don't own CNBC?

Murdoch: No

Question: Why not?

Murdoch: Because we're going to enjoy the competition. We have to get wider distribution and that takes time. We are further ahead with Fox Business than we were at this stage with Fox News, and Fox News today is one of our very greatest and largest assets.

Question: Why don't you hire away all the CNBC on-air people?

Murdoch: We don't think they're all that good. There are some good ones, but that'll be up to [FNC/FBN chairman] Roger Ailes. We create or we discover previously undiscovered talent and make them into stars.

FBN's Shibani Joshi appears on the cover of The Indian American magazine.

In an an article titled "Finance at Her Fingertips" in the May-June 2009 issue, Joshi discusses her childhood in Oklahoma, her career path, and two of her role models: Oprah Winfrey and fellow Indian-American tvnewser Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

Joshi is also asked for her thoughts on March's brouhaha between CNBC's Jim Cramer and Jon Stewart. "Look, I felt for Jim Cramer watching him on 'The Daily Show': he was set up to take the fall for the entire media industry...Cramer has made a number of calls that have been totally wrong. Jon Stewart was simply making him accountable for his own words. But to pin the financial crisis on the oversight of journalists isn't appropriate."

Shibani is scheduled to report live for FBN from India July 14-15, on how the country is faring during the global economic downturn.

Ratings for Fox Business Network are not publicly reported, but occasionally have trickled out.

This appears to be the case on 247WallSt.com, which reports, "audience numbers have hardly budged in...eleven months."

Writer Douglas A. McIntyre concludes: "Fox Business is clearly in trouble."

But could it be bad blood? TheWrap.com published an email exchange between McIntyre and FBN, asking if the network, "would be interested in being the exclusive provider of video business news for 24/7 Wall St." FBN declined.

McIntyre cites a "former executive with the network," who conveyed the ratings information. An insider tells TheWrap: "There were absolutely no former executives that would have had access to this information." (An FBN insider tells TVNewser there are actually no former FBN executives.)

Interestingly, FBN showed up in an ad on 24/7 Wall St, as part of the Google Ad Network of randomly-appearing advertisements. Click continued to see what the page looked like at 1pmET...

continued...

BayNewser reports FBN's Liz Claman is about to spend "Three Days in the Valley" - Slicon valley. Starting Monday, Claman will interview Silicon Valley CEOs and thought leaders including Google's Eric Schmidt, Yahoo!'s Carol Bartz and Jay Adelson, CEO of Digg.

And Claman's going to be awfully busy.

The complete interview list at BayNewser...

The New York Daily News' Richard Huff profiles FBN anchor Jenna Lee, who describes her early mornings, her fight to get on TV and the stigma of "looks, rather than her expertise" for women on business news networks.

"My looks aren't going to help me explain mortgage-backed securities," she says. "In the realm of things that are unexpected, I never expected to be perceived that way. I was a tomboy growing up. Quite frankly, I don't know what to do with it. I don't walk into a room and think people are checking me out."

With the economy as a major news focus, Lee's role has expanded quickly. "This has been an incredible time for me," she says. "It's given me a lot of confidence that I could handle breaking news of other topics, not just business."

Fox Business VP and anchor Alexis Glick talks with the Star-Ledger about how the recession is changing everything from consumer habits to Wall Street to how financial news is covered:

Q: Were some financial journalists too cheerleaderish about the stock market?

A: There were just as many naysayers. Let's be fair. Regulatory bodies fell down. Executives didn't understand some of their products. Members of Congress didn't understand the degree to which we were allowing a credit bubble to occur. We all collectively played some role in it.

• Earlier on mediabistro.com: So What Do You Do, Alexis Glick?

A TVNewser tipster writes about an "employee address" given by FNC/FBN chairman Roger Ailes this morning, something Ailes does periodically.

One key point of the 45 minute address to the staffs of both Fox News and Fox Business was the reach of the 19-month old Fox Business Network. Ailes says FBN is available in more homes after the first 18 months than Fox News was after its first 18 months.

According to Universe Estimates (UE) from Nielsen, FBN has 47 million subscribers. FNC had 30.5 million subs 18 months after launch. However, Fox Business Network is still not at the point where public ratings data is being made available.

FBN's Liz Claman has conducted her fair share of interviews with the Oracle of Omaha, Warren Buffett.

And just like last year, FBN will air "Weekend with Warren," featuring Claman reporting from Berkshire Hathaway's shareholder weekend, beginning this afternoon and continuing tomorrow (10am-2pmET). Claman will interview TD Ameritrade Chairman Joe Moglia, Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman and more.

On Monday at 9:30amET, Claman interviews Buffett, featuring Bill Gates and more, for a commercial-free hour — featuring viewer questions.

• Related: Claman on WowOWow.com: "6 Idiot-Proof Money Moves"

Well, not likely.

In a Mediaweek story about Fox News Channel's ambition to be the #1 cable channel (more on that later), Anthony Crupi spoke with Fox News EVP of sales Paul Rittenberg. Crupi writes, that Rittenberg "sees an opportunity to bring in more cash with Fox Business Network, which he'll guarantee against ratings deliveries as of July 1."

But TVNewser has learned those ratings will be for internal sales purposes only, not publicly released ratings as is the case with other cable news channels.

Fox Business went on the air Oct. 15, 2007. Fox News Channel was rated by Nielsen six months after its launch in a much less crowded cable environment in 1997.

Fox Business Network anchors Cody Willard and Neil Cavuto looked back on last week's tea parties.

Kate O'Hare of Zap2It.com interviews Willard (who partied in Boston):

It was an anti-partisan crowd. It was not a left or right thing. I do think the Republican Party did try to make it a right-wing thing, but that being said, I think basically the crowds were anti-Republican and anti-Democrat. They were equally angry, and rightly so, at both parties...One of the best signs I saw out there yesterday said, 'O is the new W.' And that's the problem. It's both parties equally.

Malcolm Maclachlan of Capital Weekly talked to Cavuto (who partied in Sacramento):

We can't pick and choose our rages. I would be more curious why others (networks) chose not to. I guess you can be dismissive all you want. You can say this is just a few rich people gathering in a town center to bitch. People I talked to, certainly in Sacramento, didn't seem rich to me. A lot of them wish they could be. A lot them are average Joes and Joanns who didn't look rich, dress rich, act rich, talk rich. They were just very concerned about a government that seemed to be getting bigger.