Fox Business off to hilariously disappointing start

The glory days of Fox's news operation have evidently peaked, as its new business network has started off to disappointing ratings.

It shows you that Faux News has become such a tainted brand that people have a harder time than ever linking Fox with any serious news offerings that one might expect to find on a financial news channel. How dismal is it? First you have to consider that Fox Business Network is already available in one-third the number of U.S. cable households as CNBC, its main competitor - a shockingly high number for an upstart channel these days. (It took almost 2 years for our local cable system to pick up MTV, so that shows you how favorable things are for Fox Business.)

Despite such strong penetration and a huge promotional budget, Pox Business has an average of only 6,300 viewers on any weekday - compared to 283,000 for CNBC. Even when you adjust numbers for Fox's lower penetration, it's still getting beaten by a 15-to-1 ratio.

I guess not even conservative, financially secure investors trust Fox with their money, seeing how few viewers it has. After all, longtime right-wing media hatchet man Roger Ailes chairs both Fox News Channel and Fox Business.

A few more embarrassing things about Faux Business Network: Like CNBC, Fox Business floods nights and weekends with infomercials. Because cable costs money, people are actually forced to pay for channels full of infomercials! Fox Business is so untrustworthy that it distributed a review by a Toronto newspaper that said of the channel, "They set out to change the face of financial news...and they darn well did." The problem is that Fox Business left out the next sentence in the review: "Now, please, change it back."

With that type of distortion, would you trust this channel for any serious reportage?

(Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/04/business/media/04fox.html)