Fox Puts Its Money on 'Fun' Business Channel

But there are signs that CNBC is nervous about its new rival. After word leaked that Fox Business would have a 5 p.m. show called "Happy Hour" -- based in a bar -- CNBC added a happy-hour segment, from a bar, to its program "Fast Money." CNBC spokesman Kevin Goldman says "the concept" has been around since "Fast Money" "was first created" and was adopted when the program moved to 5 p.m.

Fox News Channel already has the five top-rated business shows on cable, led by Cavuto's "Your World." He will do double duty on the new channel, and Fox News correspondents will contribute as well.

Television industry analyst Andrew Tyndall is skeptical of Fox's chances. "There is no evidence that the potential financial news audience is underserved," he says. "CNBC is a quality brand. Bloomberg has its niche. . . .

"It would be a mistake to think the Fox Business Network can take advantage of Fox News's coattails. Of all genres of news, business news is the one where accuracy and objectivity are valued most highly," especially when "people are putting their money at risk."

CNN's coattails didn't help its business channel, CNNfn, which folded in 2004 after nine years.

Fox Business is short on stars, although last week it signed former Hewlett-Packard chief executive Carly Fiorina as a contributor. Perhaps the channel is relying on what New York magazine called a bevy of "foxy young broads," including a former model and onetime flight attendant.

But one certified celebrity is Alexis Glick, a Fox Business vice president who was a substitute host on the "Today" show.

"It was a rocket ship," Glick says of her NBC gig. "People said, 'Oh my God, she's going to be the next Katie Couric.' I was a kid. I'd only been in TV for three years. . . . It was a dream job, but the thing I missed most is running a business."

And Glick knows the business, having worked at Goldman Sachs and then managed floor trading at the New York Stock Exchange for Morgan Stanley. "I feel very comfortable bringing an inside-baseball perspective because I sat and talked to hedge-fund managers every day," she says.

Glick, who describes herself as a player-coach -- she will anchor and help run things -- has a weakness for sports metaphors. A former high school basketball star, she speaks of the "pre-game show" and "post-game show" and "zone defense." She says she is drawn by "the thrill of the win" -- that is, when she's not taking care of her three young children.

"I multi-task," Glick explains. "I do a lot of e-mails at 5 a.m. in the middle of a breast-feeding session."

The notion that Fox Business will strike a hipper tone than CNBC permeates the organization. In online promos, anchor Rebecca Gomez says: "It's more casual, it's warmer." McDowell boasts that "we're going to bring the same passion we've delivered at the Fox News Channel."