CNBC and NY Times Agree to Online Alliance
Cox News Service
Tuesday, January 08, 2008
NEW YORK — CNBC and the New York Times said Monday that they will share financial articles and video on their Web sites, an alliance that comes as News Corp. seeks to take them on with its Fox Business Network and the Wall Street Journal.
The collaboration, a first for the Times and CNBC, will include sharing material on business, technology, economics and personal finance.
Under the agreement, CNBC will provide articles and multimedia from its Web site and the Times will provide content from its online and print editions.
"This is the beginning of a collaborative digital relationship that we hope to expand," said Mark Hoffman, president of CNBC, which is owned by General Electric Co.'s NBC Universal.
The allied Web sites will "reach more business decision makers than any other financial Web site in the U.S.," said Vivian Schiller, general manager of NYTimes.com.
Rupert Murdoch's News. Corp. launched its 24-hour financial network in October, seeking a slice of the lucrative business TV market long ruled by CNBC.
While the Fox network remains in its infancy with few viewers compared to CNBC, FBN executives would like to replicate the success of the Fox News Channel, which launched in 1996, challenging and then overtaking Atlanta-based CNN.
News Corp. also bought Dow Jones & Co., the Wall Street Journal publisher, closing the deal last month.
While hampered in the near term by a CNBC-Journal content-sharing deal running through 2012, News Corp. is seeking to bolster its new network with the Journal's coverage and reputation.
An opportunity for FBN will be turning users of Dow Jones financial Web sites into FBN viewers, network executives have said.
Murdoch also has said he sees the Journal doing more to take on the Times, by expanding its national and political coverage and possibly opening up the Journal's subscriber-only Web site to a broader audience.
On the Web:
CNBC: www.cnbc.com
NY Times: www.nytimes.com
FBN: www.foxbusiness.com
Wall Street Journal: www.wsj.com