Dow Jones Drops CNBC Ads From Web Sites in Favor of Fox Links: Breaks contract

[DeepModem Mom]

NYT: Dow Jones Drops CNBC Ads From Web Sites in Favor of Fox Links
By BILL CARTER
Published: October 16, 2007

On the day they had contracted to run advertisements placed by CNBC, two Web sites owned by Dow Jones & Company instead ran ads for that cable business channel’s new competitor, the Fox Business Network. Both MarketWatch and The Wall Street Journal’s Web site, WSJ.com, filled up the exact spaces CNBC had purchased with rotating ads that included some for Fox Business Network. These were accompanied by links to foxbusiness.com, the Web site of the Fox Business Network. The ads for Fox started running soon after midnight.

CNBC, which is owned by NBC Universal (both are units of General Electric), had concluded a deal with Dow Jones more than a month ago to secure those locations for ads supporting CNBC. CNBC paid about $87,000 for the ads.

Aware that yesterday was the day that its new rival, Fox Business, was going on the air, CNBC specifically asked for — and was granted — an exclusive position on MarketWatch, guaranteeing that its ads would be seen by everyone who went to the home page. CNBC had also purchased a two-month position on the Markets Data page on WSJ.com. In both cases, ads for Fox Business Network turned up exactly where CNBC had contracted for its ads to be. Fox’s owner, the News Corporation, agreed to purchase Dow Jones in July, but that deal has not been completed.

Dow Jones executives declined to comment on the reasons the contract was broken or why Fox was rewarded with the ad placements that CNBC had sought. Robert Christie, a spokesman for Dow Jones, said he would not go beyond comments made Sunday, in which he said the company reserved the right to alter the timing of advertising.

But one Dow Jones executive, who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to speak for the company, said that the issues probably turned on the links between the Fox Business site and MarketWatch....The switch in the ads angered many executives at CNBC and NBC Universal, who questioned whether Dow Jones had breached the agreement under orders from executives at the News Corporation, even though it was not under any obligation yet to follow those orders....

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/16/business/media/16foxads.html?bl&ex=1192852800&en=07847552491b852f&ei=5087%0A

[harlinchi]

1. And yet, folks are considering more media consolidation! n/t

[angstlessk]

2. "...declined to comment on the reasons..."...THEY EVEN THINK INVESTORS

ARE IDIOTS..Lets think about this...Murdoch purchased Dow Jones who owns the WSJ and Murdoch also owns Faux Snooze...and somehow...someway which they refuse to disclose ...
Faux Business and the WSJ were advertising on Dow Jones instead of its rival CNBC who had a contract for exactly those slots??


:shrug: I wonder to.................................................................NOT

[EST]

3. This is wonderful news!

The silver lining may well be that the free cigars and cadillacs will be sharply curtailed and Newscorp may well find themselves increasingly isolated.

It isn't surprising that desperation is setting in as the most corrupt administration and its fascist enablers are being wound down. They'll score all they can. The battle lines are being drawn.
The enemy of my enemy philosophy is destined to be sorely tested.

[zbdent]

4. This is why RWers LOVE lawyers ... when someone breaks a contract

with a corporation, then the corporate lawyers are sent in with nukes ...