FoxBusiness.com Is Launched: Looks Decent But…It’s Fox

Rupert Murdoch & Co yesterday launched the Fox Business Network, a 24-hour venture meant to cut into CNBC?s dominant position in the world of cable business news. And the first-day reviews are in.

One published this morning, in the none other than the oh-so-anti-everything-to-do-with-News-Corp institution, The New York Times, laid it out plain and simple: The Fox Business Network is, well, a business network in the vein of Fox News. In other words, the serious stuff side note, and most everything is smiles and sunshine. At least when it comes to big business on Wall Street.

Personally, I haven?t taken a look at what?s been made available to cable viewers. Instead, I wanted to see what the new network?s Web-based operation was all about, and decide for myself whether it is ?Web 2.0-compatible.? And frankly, it ain?t too shabby.

First, it must be said: I second Alessandra Stanley?s immediate impressions in terms of the programming itself. It?s terribly watered down. The whole thing is very Fox-like. Which is definitely not a good thing. Mind you, CNBC, in my view, isn?t much better at all.

(Quite honestly, I couldn?t give a (bleep) about televised business news in general. It?s entirely uninteresting and almost completely unsubstantive as far as what you get for the time one typically spends watching the screen.)

But as for the structure of FoxBusiness.com itself, it?s actually quite polished.

To really test the heart of the thing out, you of course venture almost immediately to the Video page, where you?ll be pleased to find a large window in a widescreen format, where all video can be viewed. (One can choose to view clips in standard, ?big?, and ?full-screen? sizes.)

Also, the selection of recorded clips (there is no live stream at present) is neatly laid out in an easily navigable grid ?below the fold,? where a single click will bring up a segment or highlight from an earlier hour. Videos are organized by date.

Well…phooey, there isn?t much more to say about the site. Figures, it?s Fox.

The site?s no doubt more elegant than CNBC.com, but I?d simply rather avoid the two and venture to WSJ.com if I were to want a quick fix of business news. Sure, you have to read, but you?re doing that right now, right here. So what?s the problem?

If you?re interested in getting high quality content, you?re best off going for, you know, the best, right?

And hey, what?d?ya know, that?s where most of the pieces at Fox Business are slated to be taken. Because, you know, Murdoch…Dow Jones….