Fox Poaches Anchor from Bloomberg
Via Tv Decoder
By Brian Stelter
Fox Poaches Anchor from Bloomberg
Brian Sullivan, a longtime anchor for Bloomberg Television, is expected to join the Fox Business Network, two industry sources said on Monday.
The move is significant because it would represent only the second time that the new Fox network, which came on the air in October, has hired away an anchor from another business channel. Liz Claman, an anchor from CNBC, joined Fox last fall. The sources requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the situation.
It is unclear what time period Mr. Sullivan would handle for Fox Business, which relies on a dual-anchor format during the day. A Fox spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A Bloomberg spokeswoman confirmed on Monday that Mr. Sullivan, who joined the network in 1997, had resigned. He most recently hosted the 3 to 5 p.m. show “Final Word.”
In an interview at Bloomberg’s offices last August, Mr. Sullivan, an avid race car driver on the weekends, said he did not spend much time thinking about Fox. “If I sit there worrying about my competitor, it’s called driving-in-your-mirrors racing,” he said.
Mr. Sullivan said that anchors like him have to work harder to stand out amid the increasingly commoditized landscape of business news. “If you just cover earnings, numbers, statistics, you can get all that on the Internet,” he said. “The way to differentiate yourself is to tell the smartest story and get the best guests.”
Bloomberg Television, a 24-hour financial news channel, enjoys wider distribution than the new Fox Business Network but has never achieved the prominence of CNBC.
I think Brian is FBN’s answer to CNBC’s Dylan Ratigan — both have somewhat “loud” personalities, are kinda-sorta annoying, and both previously worked at Bloomberg. Will be interesting to see what kind of role he plays with Fox Biz.
Comment by THE Anonymous — March 24, 2008 @ 3:38 pm
Perhaps in a show that involves Eric Bolling?
Comment by cornycob — March 24, 2008 @ 3:45 pm
Well, I know absolutely nothing about this new guy! But, I figure anyone is better than Peter Barnes. So, would it be asking too much for Brian to replace Peter?
Comment by Terance — March 24, 2008 @ 3:51 pm
Bloomberg is getting poached to hell. Erin and Dylan went to CNBC.
Fox got Robert Gray, Sandra Smith, Nicole P. , Connell McShane and now this new guy. He must be pretty good anchoring the 3-5 hour on Bloomberg.
as for Peter Barnes, I said I didn’t like him but I might have changed my mind. I only watch small doses of Money for Breakfast so maybe he doesn’t annoy me like someone who watches 3 hours of him straight.
He’s like a Joe Kernen lite. Less funny, less witty, less knowledgeable but still has the Joe Kernen traits.
Ailes should’ve dump HUGE $$$ for Kernen. There’s no replacing Kernen on CNBC.
Comment by LurkerLou — March 24, 2008 @ 4:11 pm