Murdoch confirms plans for business channel

FOX is progressing with plans to launch a dedicated business news channel and hopes to make an official announcement shortly, according to Rupert Murdoch.

The 'FOX Business Channel', a spinoff of FNC, will be on air by year's end, challenging CNBC's current dominance of the market.

"We're in pretty intense discussions with the biggest cable companies, and making quite considerable progress," Murdoch told Newsweek for its February 13 issue. "You can expect something fairly soon."

Carriage is already thought to have been concluded for the channel on satellite service DirecTV. International carriage is unlikely, yet still unconfirmed.