CNBC has confirmed what it always dreaded – that Lou Dobbs has come back to haunt and win the ratings war, hands down.
CNBC had been jubilant two years ago when Dobbs left CNN in a huff to join an outer space dot-com venture.
But since his return in recent months to CNN’s “Moneyline,” CNBC has taken a ratings beating as more viewers tune into CNN and its coverage of the war.
Last night, CNBC announced a shakeup over the ratings slump. It has decided to move its premier business show “Business Center” up one hour to get a jumpstart on its competion with Dobbs.
The Post reported the shakeup yesterday.
CNBC had gone head-to-head with Dobbs by airing “Business Center” from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. But CNBC will shift its show to a 5 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Dobbs recently has been drawing three times as many viewers as CNBC, or 901,000 to 270,000 nightly, according to Nielsen Media Research.
Another challenger, Neil Cavuto at Fox News, has also captured a huge audience, giving fits to both networks.
Cavuto’s 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. show, “Your World With Neil Cavuto,” posted a 91 percent ratings jump last quarter from a year earlier.
Cavuto’s rating of 0.6 represents 515,000 total viewers each night, Nielsen said. Fox News is owned by News Corporation, which also owns The Post.
CNBC is also trying other kinds of promotions to win back viewers. Its latest plan is to put its logo and big TV screens on as many as 100 airport shops.
The first CNBC shop, which will sell snacks and newsstand fare, opens in March in Kansas City’s airport.
The shops will also peddle CNBC products ranging from hats, golf tees, electronics, business books, videos and other items emblazoned with the CNBC logo.
The network didn’t rule out selling squeezable celebrity dolls based on the show’s popular personalities, such as Maria “Money Honey” Bartiromo, Joe “Big Kahuna” Kernen or David “The Brain” Faber.
The shops will be run by one of the nation’s largest airport retailers, Paradise Shops, which has 300 locations in 57 airports from New York to Dallas-Fort Worth.