Fox launches 'anti-Wall St.' biz channel

NEW YORK, Oct. 15 (UPI) -- Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. on Monday launched Fox Business Network in New York as a "Main Street" alternative to General Electric Co.'s CNBC business network.

"I throw $2 in every time I say something like 'basis point,'" correspondent and former hedge fund trader Cody Willard told viewers, explaining the channel's anti-jargon, anti-Wall Street position.

The cable channel, which expected to reach at least 30 million U.S. homes, took out a full-page color ad on the back page of the main section of Monday's The Wall Street Journal saying "Your Second Opinion Arrives Today."

For its part, CNBC took out a full-page black-and-white ad in the Journal's "Marketplace" section headlined "First in Business News" that called CNBC "America's Business Channel" and said the channel was "fast, accurate, actionable, unbiased."

NewsCorp. bought Dow Jones & Co.'s Journal for $5 billion in a deal announced Aug. 1 that is expected to be completed by December.

But the channel, based at News Corp.'s New York headquarters, cannot air any Wall Street Journal business reporters. A 15-year agreement between Dow Jones and CNBC keeps Journal business reporters from appearing on Fox Business until the contract ends in 2012.