CNBC is revamping its schedule after taking a beating in the business-news
ratings war.
The network announced Tuesday that it will move up the starting time of its
flagship Business Center program to 5 p.m. and add a half-hour to the
program, which will now run from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.
CNBC's new schedule -- including the Business Center change and the
addition of four new programs -- will debut Feb. 4.
Business Center has competed head-to-head against Cable News Network's
Lou Dobbs Moneyline. Both Moneyline and Fox News Channel's Your
World with Neil Cavuto have beaten Business Center handily in recent
months.
CNBC also tore up its morning schedule, and it will cancel Today's
Business, which currently runs from 5 a.m. to 7 a.m.
It will replaced by Wake-Up Call with Liz Claman and Carl Quintanilla,
which will be shot live from the NASDAQ MarketSite in New York's Times Square
and run from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m.
Claman had been co-host of Today's Business. Quintanilla, a reporter
for TheWall Street Journal, will replace Bob Sellers, Claman's
current co-anchor.
Wake-Up Call will push back the starting time of the three-hour Squawk
Box until 8 a.m., and the starting time of the two-hour Power Lunch
has been pushed back until 1 p.m.
Former Moneyline co-host Stuart Varney will anchor one of the new
programs, The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board with Stuart Varney,
which will run Fridays at 7 p.m. beginning March 1.
Varney abruptly quit CNN in March, on the same day of a New York Daily
News report that said he was angered by AOL Time Warner Inc. vice chairman
Ted Turner's use of the term 'Jesus freaks' to describe Catholic employees
observing Ash Wednesday.
Another new program, Midday Call, hosted by Martha MacCallum and Ted
David, will run weekdays from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Maria Bartiromo will host Closing Bell with Maria Bartiromo from 3
p.m. to 4 p.m. Tyler Mathisen will join Bartiromo at 4 p.m. for a program that
CNBC is calling Closing Bell with Maria Bartiromo and Tyler Mathisen.
CNBC's new strategy comes after a year of slumping ratings. It was the only
news network to lose viewers in the total-day category in 2001.
'It's a new year and a new world, and our viewers need CNBC more than ever to
make sense of current economic conditions,' CNBC CEO Pamela Thomas-Graham said
in a prepared statement.
'The changes that we are implementing will showcase CNBC's breakout
personalities and make our coverage even more valuable, insightful and
compelling,' she added.
