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- BUSINESS, Page 64Business NotesMEDIAFaint Signal At FNN
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- Financial News Network was an idea tailor-made for the
- money-mad 1980s: a U.S. cable-TV channel providing a constant
- stream of business programming and Wall Street statistics. Such
- upscale, upbeat offerings as Money Talks and Power Profiles have
- attracted 35 million subscribers. But as the economy slides into
- the nervous '90s, capitalism's live wire is having capital
- problems of its own. FNN has acknowledged that with $158 million
- in debts and only $5 million in cash on hand, the network can
- no longer meet its operating expenses. Most of the debt is tied
- to the cost of leasing equipment for FNN:PRO, a data service
- launched in July that includes delivery of FNN's material to
- stock-quote terminals. At the same time, FNN is losing viewers
- to NBC's Consumer News and Business Channel, which has gathered
- 17 million viewers in the past year and a half.
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