MH
From this morning's
Atlanta-Journal Constitution
:
CNN: Financial channel gets ax
CNN said Thursday it had subjected CNNfn to its own form of number-crunching and would shut down the financial news network around the time of its ninth anniversary in mid-December.
"This was as much about growth as anything else," said Jim Walton, president of the CNN News Group. "We're looking for opportunities in how to get our content in front of as many people as possible."
Interest in financial news has waned since the economy suffered from the twin effects of 9/11 and the bursting of the Internet stock bubble. Even though CNNfn finally began turning a profit last year, it is struggling because it's available in only 30 million of the nation's 110 million television homes.
And it was facing the possibility of losing even some of those as it neared the end of its contract with the DirecTV satellite system.
Two popular CNNfn real estate and personal finance shows, "Open House" and "Dolans Unscripted," will shift to CNN or CNN Headline News, the latter of which will undergo a makeover of sorts beginning early next year.
"We're going to try to create some programs that are going to generate viewer interest and appointment viewing," Walton said of Headline News, which consists of a repeating 30-minute "wheel" of news, sports and weather reports. "We still will have news on Headline News."
Sixty CNNfn jobs will be eliminated (out of 110 full-time positions), but Walton said some 100 new jobs were posted Thursday across the CNN News group, many as a result of the Headline News changes.
CNNfn employees unable to find positions within the company will receive two weeks' severance pay, plus two weeks for every year they've worked at CNN.
One person who's staying right where he is, Walton said, is Lou Dobbs. CNNfn's biggest star left the network in 1999, only to return in 2001, and his "Lou Dobbs Tonight" currently airs on CNN at 6 p.m.
Its ratings surged this summer, leading the New York Daily News to report this month that CNN was considering moving the show to prime time.
"We don't have any plans to do that at this time," said Walton.
No decisions have been made yet on any future occupant of the plot of cable real estate where CNNfn currently resides, although Walton did suggest it could have a slightly familiar accent.
"We're in discussions with operators for that channel space," said Walton, pointing out that CNN International programming runs on CNNfn on weekends and at night. "We feel that many of the operators might like to have more international programming going forward."
CNN: Financial channel gets ax
CNN said Thursday it had subjected CNNfn to its own form of number-crunching and would shut down the financial news network around the time of its ninth anniversary in mid-December.
"This was as much about growth as anything else," said Jim Walton, president of the CNN News Group. "We're looking for opportunities in how to get our content in front of as many people as possible."
Interest in financial news has waned since the economy suffered from the twin effects of 9/11 and the bursting of the Internet stock bubble. Even though CNNfn finally began turning a profit last year, it is struggling because it's available in only 30 million of the nation's 110 million television homes.
And it was facing the possibility of losing even some of those as it neared the end of its contract with the DirecTV satellite system.
Two popular CNNfn real estate and personal finance shows, "Open House" and "Dolans Unscripted," will shift to CNN or CNN Headline News, the latter of which will undergo a makeover of sorts beginning early next year.
"We're going to try to create some programs that are going to generate viewer interest and appointment viewing," Walton said of Headline News, which consists of a repeating 30-minute "wheel" of news, sports and weather reports. "We still will have news on Headline News."
Sixty CNNfn jobs will be eliminated (out of 110 full-time positions), but Walton said some 100 new jobs were posted Thursday across the CNN News group, many as a result of the Headline News changes.
CNNfn employees unable to find positions within the company will receive two weeks' severance pay, plus two weeks for every year they've worked at CNN.
One person who's staying right where he is, Walton said, is Lou Dobbs. CNNfn's biggest star left the network in 1999, only to return in 2001, and his "Lou Dobbs Tonight" currently airs on CNN at 6 p.m.
Its ratings surged this summer, leading the New York Daily News to report this month that CNN was considering moving the show to prime time.
"We don't have any plans to do that at this time," said Walton.
No decisions have been made yet on any future occupant of the plot of cable real estate where CNNfn currently resides, although Walton did suggest it could have a slightly familiar accent.
"We're in discussions with operators for that channel space," said Walton, pointing out that CNN International programming runs on CNNfn on weekends and at night. "We feel that many of the operators might like to have more international programming going forward."