What's NBC afraid of? How much money will it give to the cable company owned by Time-Warner--a corporate rival in the battle for second place-dom--in order to fend off the foe it realy fears, namely, Fox? Those are the real questions posed by the seemingly innocuous shuffle of cable channels in the New York City market.
The Cable Game is getting gamier! TCG can smell the fear on the companies that are already competing for the #2 spot in cable news, NBC (owner of MSNBC) and T-W (owner of CNN). Now they are colluding--one getting paid by the other--to keep yet another NBC property, CNBC, from slipping into second place behind the forthcoming and fastcoming Fox Business News.
Multichannel News' digging reporter, Mike Reynolds,had the story first, posting the news of the inter-corporate channel reshuffle at at 10:18 a.m. on Wednesday.
The issue, of course, is that the soon-to-debut Fox Business News has to be carried on cable in NYC--and that cable is controlled by Time-Warner, which owns CNN. Cable Gamers will recall that back in 1996, T-W cable tried to block the Fox News Channel from even being carried, as a way of protecting CNN. It was quite a struggle to bring fairness and balance to New York City viewers, but FNC got "on" quick enough.
Of course, getting cable "carriage" in New York, the business capital of the world, is even more important for a business channel. And now FBN has done just that; it will be right there on Channel 43, thanks to Rupert Murdoch's clout, and Roger Ailes' doggedness, having a much easier time than FNC did 11 years ago. According to Reynolds, FBN will debut in 31 million homes--a pretty good takeoff altitude. So that's great news, because the more the merrier in The Cable Game!
But then, five hours later, at 3:07 p.m., Reynolds came back with more detail, updating his scoop:
Sources familiar with the moves indicate that NBCU paid up to “several million dollars” for the enhanced channel positioning and to ensure separation on the dial for Fox Business Network from CNBC.
Now that's hot stuff! Viewers outside of New York might not care which channel is where on the T-W system, that MSNBC is moving to Channel 14, to provide a sort of beard for CNBC at 15, thus blocking FBN from possibly getting Channel 15, right next to CNBC.
But all Cable Gamers, everywhere, are amused by the thought that NBC would feel compelled to lay out money to keep FBN from cozying--or is it muscling?--next to CNBC. Are they really that afraid? I guess they are! Continues Reynolds:
NBCU officials declined to comment. Time Warner Cable’s Giuliani didn’t specify a reason for the changes, saying only the operator moves channels for a variety of reasons that include “convenience, viewership and groupings.”
Anything you say, T-W!
And in the meantime, CNBC is obviously quaking.
