Great idea. Just ask Ashleigh Banfield (wherever she is nowadays).
Posted on 07/26/2004 7:42:41 AM PDT by tvn
On the set of the "Squawk Box," one of CNBC's more successful business shows. NBC Universal TV boss Jeff Zucker is rattling the troops at ratings-challenged CNBC.
Zucker used tough words to describe the network's business programing yesterday in a pow-wow with its top brass at CNBC's Englewood Cliffs, N.J., headquarters, sources told the Daily News.
The visit was part of an ongoing set of meetings the former NBC Entertainment chief is holding to try to boost ratings at the financial news channel, considered one of NBC's crown jewels because of its robust profits.
Fixing CNBC, as well as the "Today" show - which is facing fierce competition from ABC's "Good Morning America" - are said to be two of Zucker's highest priorities these days.
"Both are under the very watchful eye of Jeff Zucker," a source said.
Yesterday's meeting at CNBC was attended by CNBC president Pamela Thomas Graham, business news chief David Friend and top executive producers of CNBC's business shows.
Sources said Zucker, who recently expanded his responsibilities to include CNBC, reported on the results of a focus group that called the net's business shows dull and repetitive.
He told execs to look for ways to invigorate programing and said moving around anchors wasn't enough. One idea tossed out was to take some of the CNBC anchors on the road.
Zucker declined to comment.
A CNBC spokeswoman told The News, "programing meetings are normal course of business for us. We don't comment on internal meetings."
CNBC faces a tough dilemma. The network soared during the dot-com boom, but has faltered as viewers lost interest in the stock market.
"If this continues, it will get ugly and some of the people in that room won't be here anymore," a CNBC insider said.
CNBC's also in the process of investing heavily to upgrade its prime-time schedule by adding show biz names, including the talk show "McEnroe," which debuted two weeks ago.
While they're at it, why don't they rearrange the deck chairs on the CNBC Titanic!
I'm sure that adding McEnroe's hour of Bush-hating vitriol will help turn them right around.
Great idea. Just ask Ashleigh Banfield (wherever she is nowadays).
Amazing isnt it?
they could turn the slump in rating s around just like that with a more fair and balanced approach but noooooooo that would much to simple so we will keep on with lies,smears and hate of all things conservative and scratch our heads when we are all out of jobs.
The bottom line is that a stock market show is never going to be a huge ratings getter, but the profits on the show are great since they get quality advertising, and don't have mega-million dollar arrogant anchors like Blather-Brokelaw-Lemmings.
Leave it to this liberal "entertainment" executive to screw the whole thing up in a quest for "ratings."
CNBC is boring because the market has been in a tight trading range and is boring. Plus, since Bush cleaned up the fraud on wall street, there are few scandals to report anymore.
CNBC used to have the Editorial Board of the WSJ on every Friday. It was the best political discussion show of any kind on any channel(my opinion).
Now, they have Tina Brown and John McEnroe doing talk shows. Idiots.
I agree that the WSJ program was excellent. Once again FOX has the best business shows with Cavuto on daily and the business block on Saturday morning. I thought I read that FOX was going to start a business channel. It would be far more interesting than CNBC although Joe Kernan and Maria Bartiromo are very good. So is Sue Herrera.
Fox should hire her to read the placards or do the weather. She's hot.
CNBC could give Fox a run for its money simply by balancing its news.
CNBC, MSNBC, and the alphabets are all competing for half the market.
Ditto that. I was just warming up to it when they yanked it.
Didn't Stuart Varney go to Fox?
Yes, Varney is now on Fox.
"Didn't Stuart Varney go to Fox?"
Yes, and he is great to watch. He and Cavuato(sp) could make a Fox Business Channel put a death nail in CNBC.
And they think more Tina Brown stuff is going to help them?
How about some more reruns of dateline or some other NBC shows no one wants to watch? Or maybe a few more reality shows, we don't have enough of them yet. Or maybe they could try something never done before like spinning off Law & Order. What exactly has Zucker done? It seems like all regular network programming is the same garbage just different channels. I like to use a CBS show to describe what I think of all the networks. You know Everyone Loves Raymond? I call it Everyone Who Doesn't Have Cable Loves Raymond. I would rather watch paint dry then have to watch lame shows the alphabet networks are putting out.
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