Business Notes MEDIA

Financial News Network was an idea tailor-made for the money-mad 1980s: a U.S. cable-TV channel providing a constant stream of business programming and Wall Street statistics. Such upscale, upbeat offerings as Money Talks and Power Profiles have attracted 35 million subscribers. But as the economy slides into the nervous '90s, capitalism's live wire is having capital problems of its own. FNN has acknowledged that with $158 million in debts and only $5 million in cash on hand, the network can no longer meet its operating expenses. Most of the debt is tied to the cost of leasing equipment for FNN:PRO, a data service launched in July that includes delivery of FNN's material to stock- quote terminals. At the same time, FNN is losing viewers to NBC's Consumer News and Business Channel, which has gathered 17 million viewers in the past year and a half.