Fox Business Network officially debuts this morning, launching a challenge to CNBC, the only other all-business network on the air. FBN officials say they're looking to make business news less "Wall Street" and more "Main Street," so they won't be aiming to take hard-core financial types directly from CNBC—at least for now.
CNBC makes a profit of about $60 million a year by drawing a small audience of wealthy professionals—a demographic advertisers are willing to pay top dollar to reach. If FBN pulls in more, but less affluent, viewers, it might not be as successful. In the short term, FBN is expected to lose $185 million over four years before turning a profit in 2011, a loss owner Rupert Murdoch is apparently prepared to eat. (More Fox Business Network stories.)