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be headquartered in New York with established news bureaus in Chicago,
Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington and London, FBN has secured
distribution agreements with leading U.S. cable operators including
Comcast and Time Warner cable. This is expected to provide the network
with at least 30 million subscribers, when it debuts.
News
Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch had previously said it would launch
the business channel in the fourth quarter, but did not provide
a date.
FBN
"will look and feel different", with more emphasis on
entertainment than mere market coverage. The past several months
have been spent designing the channel under the eye of senior vice
president Fox News veteran Brian Jones.
Jones
reports to Fox News executive VP Kevin McGee who will manage the
day-to-day operations of FBN.
Currently,
Murdoch is in the midst of talks on a $5 billion offer for Wall
Street Journal publisher Dow Jones & Co. The deal would provide
the new FBN with reporting staff and content from one of the most
respected business newspapers.
However,
if the deal is through, a content sharing deal between rival CNBC
and the Journal that is active till 2012, is expected to complicate
any possible synergies between FBN and the Journal.
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