Financial News Network

The Financial News Network was a business news channel broadcasting in the United States from 1981 until its merger with CNBC in 1991. 

The channel began as an offshoot of original "business television" station KWHY in Los Angeles. FNN was based in nearby Santa Monica, California, with a studio in New York City. In November 1981, FNN opened operations in Florida with a bureau in Hollywood near Fort Lauderdale. This was done in association with its affiliate, WKID-TV, which had been airing its "Daily Market Report" since 1976.

The network's principal audience was small investors. It also featured a digital stock ticker running across the lower third of the screen, with stock prices on the top (white) band and index prices on the bottom (blue) band.

In 1982, FNN, under the leadership of its chairman, the Harvard University educated Jeremy Wiesen, and his assistant, Patricia J. Greathouse, relocated its New York City studios to the ground floor of Merrill Lynch's headquarters in Manhattan. FNN was the first network to allow passersby to view its broadcast operations.

At first, the channel aired only during daytime hours on a mix of broadcast stations and cable television providers. Over-the-air affiliates included:

> KSCI, Los Angeles
> WATL, Atlanta (now a MyNetworkTV affiliate)
> WPWR-TV, Chicago (also MyNetwork TV)
> KNXV, Phoenix (now an ABC affiliate)
> WSWS, Columbus, Georgia (now CW affiliate WLGA)
> KTWS (now KDFI), Dallas(now a MyNetworkTV affiliate)
> WKID (now WSCV), Miami/Ft. Lauderdale (now Telemundo)
> WWSG-TV (now WPSG), Philadelphia(now a CW affiliate)
> One of the broadcast affiliates was WCCO in Minneapolis.

In 1985, FNN severed ties with its broadcast stations and established a 24-hour feed on cable TV only. At night, it added SCORE, a mini-network that aired sports events and news. Also airing in the overnight hours was Venture, a series of long-form speeches by business leaders, and TelShop, a shop-at-home service. Harvey "Scott" Ellsworth, who was the creator and on-air host of the popular radio program, "Scott's Place", that aried on KFI-AM in Los Angeles from 1967 through 1974 IMDB Bio, was the evening anchor.

In the late 1980s, Infotechnology Inc., a New York-based information technology and venture capital company (chaired by Earl Brian) which also owned United Press International, bought a 47 percent stake in FNN to become the largest shareholder. At its height, FNN was available on 3,500 cable systems, reaching a potential audience of 35 million homes across the country. FNN moved into newly built modern TV studios and production facilities in the Wang building in Los Angeles and in New York's Rockefeller Center.

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