New 'Street' for Rukeyser
Former PBS money guru heads to CNBC
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Cabler's new show, "Rukeyser's Wall Street," will appear Friday nights at 8.30 -- the same time at which the 69-year-old host appeared on PBS.
Deal fits well with the cabler's agenda of reaching the older end of the demos. It's been reaching out to that crowd recently with such offerings as the Senior PGA Tournament.
Public TV, too
"CNBC was the most attractive to me," Rukeyser said in an interview from the cabler's Fort Lee, N.J., location. "They're going to put the show on at the right time, and they agreed to my insistence of taking care of public television's audience."
To that end, CNBC has struck an unusual agreement with PBS affiliate WLIW of Long Island, which will distribute the show to other public TV affiliates for weekend broadcast. "We haven't worked out the business arrangements just yet," says exec VP of business news Bruno Cohen.
Rukeyser, who has threatened legal proceedings against his former employer, still hasn't ruled out filing a lawsuit.
Rights violated?
"My lawyers are looking at the options," he said. "There was a serious breach of contract. My First Amendment rights may have been violated."
On March 22, MPT removed the 32-year veteran of Wall $treet Week With Louis Rukeyser" with the justification that it wanted to revamp the program. Rukeyser's contract was due to expire at the end of June.
"He was not open to any substantive changes," MPT marketing veep Jeff Hankin told Daily Variety. "The show was not going to go forward with a single-host format. We were just opening the discussion, and he ended the discussion."
