CNBC (officially the Consumer News and Business Channel, until 1991) is a U.S. News and satellite television business news channel in the U.S., owned and operated by NBC Universal. The network and its international spinoffs cover business headlines and provide live coverage of financial markets. The combined reach of CNBC and its siblings is 390 million viewers around the world. The network is currently ranked as the 19th most valuable cable channel in the U.S., worth roughly $4 billion.

History

The CNBC channel originally had its beginnings around 1980 as The Satellite Program Network (SPN), showing a low-budget mix of old movies, instructional & entertainment programs, and infomercials. The channel later changed its name to Tempo Television. After initially signing a letter of intent to acquire Tempo, NBC eventually opted for a deal to lease the channel's transponder in June 1988. On this platform, the channel was relaunched on April 17, 1989 as the Consumer News and Business Channel. NBC and Cablevision initially operated CNBC as a 50-50 joint venture, choosing to headquarter the channel in Fort Lee, New Jersey.

However, around this time, FNN encountered serious financial difficulties. After a protracted bidding war with a Dow Jones-Westinghouse Broadcasting consortium, CNBC acquired FNN for $154.3 million on May 21, 1991 and immediately merged the two operations, hiring around 60 of FNN's 300-strong workforce. The deal increased the distribution of the newly enlarged network to over 40 million homes. Cablevision sold its 50% stake to NBC upon completion of the deal. With the full name "Consumer News and Business Channel" dropped, the network's business programming was at first branded "CNBC/FNN," although this was phased out before the mid-90s.

CNBC began to grow during the 90s, launching Asian and European versions of the channel in 1995 and 1996 respectively. In 1997, CNBC formed a strategic alliance with Dow Jones, including content sharing with Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal and the rebranding of the channel as "a service of NBC and Dow Jones". CNBC's international channels were then merged into a 50-50 joint venture with their Dow Jones-owned rivals, London-based EBN (European Business News) and Singapore-sited ABN (Asia Business News) in 1998, while ratings grew on the U.S. channel until the new millennium's dot-com bubble burst in 2000.

The new millennium also brought changes to the network, moving its world headquarters from Fort Lee to Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey in 2003, which features completely digital video production and studios made by PDG Ltd of Beeston, Nottinghamshire and the FX Group of Ocoee, Florida.

NBC Universal reacquired full control of loss-making CNBC Europe and CNBC Asia from Dow Jones at the end of 2005. The licensing agreement between Dow and CNBC U.S. remained intact, however.