The new face of business news.

AuthorSaltzman, Joe

STATE-OF-THE-ART COMPUTER ANIMATION is changing the way we get our information and it is enticing the "Sesame Street" generations into learning more about the world around them. Business news is a good example. It used to be a hard sell filling up gray columns of newspapers with countless statistics and inside jargon. Many readers found the business section unreadable and moved on to sports and entertainment. In the Internet era, much of this has changed. More and more people are using software and Internet tools to buy stocks, do their income tax, create elaborate financial schemes, and even plot complicated estate and retirement plans.

First came specialized channels on cable TV and satellite. These now are complemented by dot-com partnerships. MSNBC, CNBC, Bloomberg, CNNMoney are just some of the specialized television channel websites that are frying new ways to give the public information about business and economics. If you cannot find it on the TV screen, you can locate it on the computer screen. Often, the two work together, grabbing increasing numbers of consumers who, in the newspaper era, would not have been caught dead laying to figure out the stock market.

Fox Business News (FBN) is the newest financial channel delivering real-time information across every communication platform available-via the Internet, TV, and cell phones. FBN has come up with what might be the perfect business news show in this age of infotainment ("Happy Hour"), and it takes place at the Bull and Bear, the bar at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel in

New York. The anchors look like celebrities---Cody Willard and Rebecca Gomez--who, in keeping with the atmosphere, look more like movie stars than business news anchors. The pair talks to the audience and each other as real-life customers move around in the background. As one critic put it, "Welcome to 'Happy Hour,' a new breed of news show, where a younger version of 'Regis & Kelly' meets 'Cheers' with the breeziness of 'Entourage.'" For an hour, Willard and Gomez greet a variety of visitors, most of whom are entrepreneurial, young, hip, and often celebrities in their fields. While many are business analysts, the guest list includes a potpourri of individuals--ranging from adult video stars, professional skateboarders, famous chefs, and Fox reporters to Hollywood stars and wine and beer merchants.

If the human Barbie and Ken anchors are not enough, "Happy Hour" offers TV's lust regularly scheduled animated news...

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