Bloomberg
CNBC's loss is Mayor Michael Bloomberg's gain.
Confirmation that major Manhattan brokerage firm Merrill Lynch & Co. dumped CNBC as its video feed source and took on Bloomberg TV instead is a surprise only on the surface.
While Bloomberg's financial news net has never been close competition for honcho CNBC, which was an early, dominant leader in the financial news market and a favorite of the dot-com chieftains, Merrill and the cabler's parent, Bloomberg LP, have always been tight.
Two decades ago, when then-Merrill exec Michael Bloomberg built a data supply and analysis service, Merrill put up $30 million for a 30% stake in the system. The brokerage firm maintains a 20% investment in Bloomberg LP.
Recent praise
More recently, Mayor Bloomberg publicly praised Merrill for its downtown "homecoming." The firm was one of the first to re-occupy Lower Manhattan after the World Trade Center attacks.
Merrill employees said the decision to ax CNBC was related in part to nasty on-air swipes against the brokerage firm. They complained that CNBC's coverage of the scandal-riddled company have been too harsh, pointing to digs by commentators Lawrence Kudlow and James J. Cramer against Merrill's chairman, David H. Komansky, and its chief exec, E. Stanley O'Neal.
Last year, when New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer revealed damning Merrill emails, Cramer wrote on
TheStreet.com: "Put simply, these e-mails are horrible. You have heard of the smoking gun? These are the smoking arsenal. I can't believe how bad they read. I, a seasoned pro, can't believe how corrupt things got."
There's been worse said about departed Merrill analyst Henry Blodget, who dissed companies in private e-mails and touted them in public, often on CNBC.
CNBC getting tough
Word is that as CNBC attempts to redefine itself as a personal finance channel, it is adopting an increasingly take-no-prisoners attitude toward Wall Street. Many believe the net helped fuel the market frenzy and stratospheric valuations by lionizing CEOs and giving Wall Streeters too much face time with too little analysis.
CNBC commentator David Faber has admitted to having "glorified certain members of management and the overall sense" of the stock bubble before it burst two years ago.
CNBC reps could not be reached for comment.
Money also was an issue in the CNBC ditch. "We've negotiated a better cost with Bloomberg," said Merrill Lynch spokesman James Wiggins, though he would not disclose numbers.
Whatever the reasons, next week, more than 20,000 Merrill employees will get their morning Dow fix from laptops broadcasting Bloomberg.
Even without the support of a big brokerage, CNBC has seen better days. Net's total-day coverage tumbled 44 % in 2002 from the previous year, according to Nielsen Media Research.
Bloomberg TV is not broadcast in enough households to be rated by Nielsen.
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