CNNfn prepares to get down to business.(new cable network is prepared to lose $3 million in first year)(Brief Article)

Broadcasting & Cable, November, 1995 by McConville, Jim

Turner Broadcasting's cable business network CNNfn, which launches next month, will follow an editorial rather than a business mandate. Translation: The cable giant expects that CNNfn will lose money its first four years as it builds its ad and viewer base. CNN executives say the network won't be judged by ratings and ad sales at first.

"We have the luxury of not worrying about market penetration and ratings," says Lou Dobbs, executive vice president, CNN, who will oversee the new network. CNNfn, which will launch with approximately 3 million satellite and 1 million cable subscribers, is expected to reach 4.5 million subs by the end of 1996. Turner executives have solid precedent for their patience. When CNN launched in 1980, it lost $2 million a month for...

Read the rest of this article with a Free Trial at HighBeam Research.

Premium Content Partnership | HighBeam Research provides an in-depth online archive library of reference works.