Business Media Developments

Last week, I was poking around on blogs which discuss business media and various on-air personalities, such as Erin Burnett, Becky Quick, Maria Bartiromo, as the Citigroup-Maria Bartiromo-Todd Thomson-CNBC situation seemed to play out.

I guess I'm the last person on the planet to learn that Fox is reputed to be planning the launch of a business-only channel to compete with CNBC. Even my partner responded to my remark about this as 'old news.'

Several blogs discussed how Maria Bartiromo has besmirched the reputations of on-air female reporters and anchors with her activities, including her alleged, very public dating of the married former Citigroup exec, Todd Thomson. Additionally, one blog alleged Bartiromo is attempting, or did attempt, to trademark the phrase "money honey." Again, my partner confirmed this, saying he remembered reading some reference to it in the New York Times last month. So it's a very recent development, set in the current context, not some story from several years back, when Bartiromo was referred to via that phrase more commonly. That this trademark story is true makes you wonder what sort of undercurrents must be swirling among the on-air staff over at CNBC, with such a prima donna in their midst.

In any event, widely-held expectations appear to be that, should Fox be planning a new, competing business network, they would be obviously targeting any disgruntled, underrepresented CNBC anchors, such as Erin Burnett. This could become an interesting development in many ways.

If Fox takes its usual hard, analytic look at business, in contrast to CNBC's increasing focus on business and investing as entertainment, they could very well dent the current market leader's share. Not to mention give business leaders and pundits an alternative perch from which to speak, perhaps relaxing the choke-hold that CNBC currently seems to have on business interviews. Maybe Fox would even consider eschewing CNBC's format of digging up and presenting ever-more unknown "analysts" and "experts," and, instead, retain fewer, first-rate consultants to opine on important business news stories and developments.

It is, however, sad that so many observers feel that Fox needs to recruit its own attractive female on-air anchors to realistically compete with CNBC.