Jeff Zucker: I Watched FBN “For About Five Seconds”

NBC Universal Jeff Zucker weighs in on CNBC’s new rival, FBN, in an interview with USA Today’s David Lieberman: “There’ve been many competitors in this space — the Financial News Network, CNNfn, Bloomberg — all of whom were bigger than this competitor. The only thing that’s different is the amount of media attention that’s involved because it’s Rupert Murdoch and News Corp.”

Asked about his first impression of FBN, Zucker replies, “Looking at the channel for about five seconds, I happened to catch one of their anchors interviewing the Naked Cowboy (street busker Robert Burck, who performs in his underwear) in Times Square. When I saw that, I decided it was time to turn back to CNBC.”

> More: An FBN spokesperson tells TVNewser in response, “We thought about putting (cancelled NBC sitcom) ‘Joey’ on FBN in the mornings, but we wanted a show that could actually generate ratings.”

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.