CNBC makes its move to block CNN’s Dobbs

Beginning a game of corporate chess, CNBC is planning to expand its Business Center program by thirty minutes beginning Monday so that it will start at 6 p.m. instead of 6:30 p.m., a half hour before CNN’s Moneyline News Hour featuring the returning Lou Dobbs. Reporting on the move, Thursday’s New York Times observed that CNBC execs “hope to take hold of viewers before the start of Moneyline and make them less inclined to tune in to Mr. Dobbs on CNN.” Since Dobbs’ departure from CNN two years ago Moneyline‘s audience has dropped by about 112,000 while Business Center‘s has risen by 89,000 and now leads Moneyline 327,000-254,000. “They took a big hit when Lou Dobbs left,” CNBC exec Bruno Cohen told the Times. “The question of the moment is how much of what they lost is recoverable two years later.”