FOX Business launches online and on TV
Michael Gay October 15th, 2007
The new business network from FOX launched this morning, along with website foxbusiness.com. I appreciate the quality of the video on the site, since my cable provider is not providing the channel for me to watch. The video is 16×9, embeddable, and a pop-out feature so you can surf the site while still watching your selected video. The site’s not perfect though, offering up “undefined story” errors 3 hours after the network launched, and several pages showing html coding. By the time you read this, they will probably have those problems fixed.
Check out the channel’s launch video here: Since FOX Business decided their embedded videos should auto play with audio, I’m not embedding it. How annoying.
Update from Cory: Anyone else having trouble loading the site? Verrry slow and buggy, like Michael said. And what does everyone think of the design?
13 Comments Add your own
1. Brink | October 15th, 2007 at 5:26 am
Hasn’t everyone gotten the memo yet? The one that says, “Only losers make their we video players autostart with sound full?”
2. tdc | October 15th, 2007 at 7:09 am
i’d say we’re down to less than 6 months now until someone like takes the lead and quits calling these things ‘SITES’.
i mean corporately.
why let it be like youtube and, like the posting below reads, everyone else then falls all over themselves to say “ME TOO!”?
3. Z | October 15th, 2007 at 8:45 am
Six months? It took years before the corporate folks stopped calling them “Web thingys” or “Web place”
“Sites” will endure much longer.
4. tdc | October 15th, 2007 at 9:16 am
nah, everybody these days has a frickin’ website. even the pizza joint at the corner (and their pizza stinks!).
somebody will figure out they can gain that little advantage (just like the jousting around who was first to have a youtube channel) and move the needle.
6 months max.
5. Greg | October 15th, 2007 at 9:25 am
People are worried that Fox Business will top CNBC? Come on, this is horrible. One segment I was watching had an author talk about how Starbucks saved his life. CNBC was talking about the housing bubble. Seriously? SERIOUSLY!!! Plus, not to mention Fox Business thinks Clear Channel is a Las Vegas casino. CCU = Circus Circus.
6. Randy Hoffman | October 15th, 2007 at 12:29 pm
After 25 years in television and being part of multiple teams that launched multiple programs one fact is not debatable: You can never judge the longevity or the quality of a program based on its launch. And let’s keep in mind this perspective - what is the most-watched business program on television? The Nightly Business Report on public television.
7. Gorman | October 15th, 2007 at 12:34 pm
A purely superficial look at their homepage: Above the fold… I kinda like. Below the fold… Another three-equal-column nightmare. And thats *with* the tab box. The eyes glaze over and the will to live shrivels up and blows away.
8. News Consumer | October 15th, 2007 at 3:56 pm
First impressions:
1. What’s with all the sexy female anchors and commentator/analysts? Some may be qualified, but come on, it looks a bit suspicious.
2. They all shout, just like on Fox News. Annoying.
3. The sets are too flashy/shiny. It’s distracting.
5. They occasionally paused to explain some of the technical business jargon (like what an ADR was) Nice - this makes business news more accessable.
For this net to work I think they should go after the aspirational middle-class, folks that want to be rich but aren’t quite sure how to get there.
9. Anonymous | October 15th, 2007 at 5:35 pm
Hate the giant Flash triptych of stories. Both because it’s a classic example of pointless, indefensible Flash use, and because only one of the stories changed all day.
10. Anonymous | October 15th, 2007 at 5:37 pm
I’m also having trouble getting the site to load. Just keep refreshing and it comes through eventually.
11. Charles | October 15th, 2007 at 8:10 pm
Site’s coming through fine for me… The design is great, for now. After a couple years, when they add more programs and talent, they’ll need to expand the site. (And add show pages for individual programs!) As long as your flash player works good, then it’s a fine site to visit. But if you ever are going to surf the web on an older computer/browser, then maybe just RSS the site’s news instead.
12. Anonymous | October 15th, 2007 at 9:18 pm
Charles, their use of Flash isn’t just bad for old browsers. It’s bad design. They don’t gain functionality by making story links Flash instead of, well, links. Google only thinks the site has nine pages, among them: terms of use, copyright policy, FAQ. FBN has essentially isolated itself from the rest of the Internet.
13. Gorman | October 16th, 2007 at 6:56 am
Holy crap… didn’t even realize that was Flash. Wow… for three stationary boxes.
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