Turner Launches Into Business News and Crowded Field : Cable: CNNfn begins with an irreverent approach, but skeptics say it will take more than that to displace CNBC.

A psychic carried the broadcast one minute; a correspondent could be seen chomping lunch the next. It may sound like Howard Stern meets MTV, but it is actually blander than that, although not by design.

Welcome to the new world of TV business news, Cable News Network-style. On Friday, Turner Broadcasting System Inc. launched its eighth cable network, unveiling the CNNfn business channel with a promise of edgier, livelier and less intimidating coverage than the entrenched incumbent, CNBC, which targets hard-core investors with serious talking heads and a ticker tape that scrolls across the bottom of the TV screen.

“We’re not going to be pretentious, but aim to be entertaining and fun, presenting even the absurdities of business,” said Lou Dobbs, the CNN executive vice president and veteran business journalist who is leading the CNNfn charge. “There is no monolithic market authority that has a sole handle on the truth and we won’t pretend there is. We’ll have psychics and astrologers as well as hard empiricalists. We’re not trying to be hip, we’re trying to be human.”

Thus, the slogan “Business Unusual.”

The Amazing Kreskin, who appeared as a guest on the first 12-hour broadcast Friday--as did New York Mayor Rudolph Guiliani, presidential hopeful Malcolm S. “Steve” Forbes Jr. and Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin--predicted slow and steady growth for the baby business channel.

But many industry sources doubt that more than one all-business cable channel can survive and predict the newcomer will have difficulty convincing cable operators to carry it on their systems at a time when capacity is tight. After all, CNBC had to take out the only competition in 1991 to survive, buying up the Financial News Network for a mere $155 million.

“We’ve done extensive research and found that business news has a devoted but narrow following,” said Richard N. Yelen, director of marketing in Southern California for Western Communications, a mid-size cable system. “CNBC owns the business franchise and business has a finite audience. The market could not support two networks in 1991, so why now?”

What is more, Turner is not the only new service vying for viewers’ loyalties. This summer, Bloomberg Business News took a baby step into cable by buying a 2 1/2-hour morning time slot on the USA Network. It also has a satellite dish service.

And next spring, ITT Corp., owner of Madison Square Garden, and Dow Jones & Co., owner of the Wall Street Journal, plan to air sports at night and business news during the day to 9 million New York households as the new owners of the WBIS UHF television station. The partners hope to expand their audience nationwide.

Like CNNfn, WBIS is banking on expanding business viewership rather than simply cannibalizing CNBC’s rather limited audience.

“Something like 37% of all households in America are now invested in the stock market,” said ITT President Robert Bowman, a former investment banker. “That is a record high, and that number will grow as baby boomers age. This is a growing market, especially if the presentation is personality-driven rather than market-driven.”

The market CNBC has carved out, however, remains a narrow one. Although 56 million cable subscribers have access to the network, only 250,000 viewers watch at peak times. That does not take into account multiple viewership at brokerage houses, bars, fitness centers and the like.

“The race is for second place,” said Brian Lewis, a CNBC spokesman.

Though viewership is narrow, the predominantly wealthy male demographic of the network is desirable to advertisers. Industry sources estimate that advertising revenue at CNBC has swelled to $110 million, up from $40 million in 1993. They estimate the operation will earn $80 million in profit this year for the NBC network and its parent, General Electric Corp., which has valued CNBC at just shy of $1 billion.

While CNNfn faces a challenge, it has several forces in its favor. For one, Turner’s largest shareholders are the nation’s top two cable operators. Time Warner, which is awaiting federal approval to acquire Turner, is supplying at least half of CNNfn’s cable subscribers--offering the service beginning next week to 1 million viewers in New York.

(Dobbs says CNNfn had stronger distribution at its launch than any other cable network in history, reaching 3 million satellite dish subscribers and another 2.5 million cable subscribers. In the Los Angeles area, CNNfn is now available only on Time Warner Cable in Huntington Beach and on satellite services such as DirectTv.)

Analysts are also encouraged by the low cost of starting the network. “Turner has the infrastructure in place, so his costs increase only marginally,” said Tom Wolzien at Sanford Bernstein & Co., referring to Turner Chairman Ted Turner. “You don’t need as many viewers to cover your costs.”

Because CNNfn will draw on the same staff of 175 that covers business for CNN and is using state-of-the-art digital production equipment, analysts estimate start-up costs at $10 million this year.

Dobbs also takes heart from the fact that CNN’s “Moneyline” business show, which will continue unchanged, has higher ratings than CNBC and CNN overall.