At CNBC, a bigger 'Business'
Public likes money talks, so Geraldo walks
The news comes as no huge surprise, as the business of business news is thriving. And after Rivera recently made it clear to CNBC that he wanted to devote more time to his NBC news specials and "Rivera Live," the cabler saw an easy entree for the expanded "Business Center," which will launch late this month.
The expanded "Business Center" will feature a wrap-up of the day's trading activity as well as a look ahead, focusing on extended-hours trading. Ron Insana and Sue Herera will continue to host the live show. CNBC declined comment.
Move comes less than a month after competitor CNNfn expanded its business news programming to 24 hours a day. A year ago, after then- CNN biz news front man Lou Dobbs ankled his post, CNBC moved quickly to capitalize on his departure by expanding and revamping "Business Center" to an hour. It will now run 90 minutes.
The time seems ripe for CNBC to boost its primetime business coverage. With a booming economy and consumer interest in personal finance at an all-time high, CNBC's "Business Day" is soaring.
During the just-completed second quarter, CNBC for the first time outperformed CNN in average total-day delivery for an entire quarter, posting an 11% advantage in households over the cable news giant.
For total day during the quarter, CNBC scored a 0.4 rating/280,000 households, compared with CNN's 0.3/253,000. And "Business Center" increased 26% in delivery vs. year-ago numbers, beating CNN's "Moneyline" by 20% in households.
Simultaneously, primetime ratings are sagging. Without an O.J. Simpson or JonBenet Ramsey case to dissect, "Rivera Live" is no longer as compelling as it once was. And, aside from "Live," all of CNBC's primetime programs are reruns of shows that aired earlier in the day on sister net MSNBC.
It's unlikely that CNBC will expand its business coverage even further into primetime any time soon. However, if the New York Stock Exchange decides to extend its trading hours, CNBC could follow suit.
As it turns out, six weeks after "Business Center" expands, the show will be preempted by NBC Olympics coverage in areas where cable operators sign up for the Olympics. CNBC will, however, continue to provide shows such as "Business Center" to cable systems that don't take the Olympic feed.
