CNBC Not Ruling Out 'Money Honey' Dolls

Fans of TV business shows may soon be able to purchase dolls bearing the likeness of Maria "Money Honey" Bartiromo, Joe "Big Kahuna" Kernen or David "The Brain" Faber.

CNBC, which is in the midst of a bitter ratings battle with CNN's Moneyline, plans to put its logo and big TV screens in as many as 100 airport shops — and may sell squeezable celebrity dolls based on the show's popular personalities.

The first CNBC shop, which will sell snacks and newsstand fare, will open in March in Kansas City's airport.

The shops will also offer CNBC products ranging from hats, golf tees, electronics, business books, videos and other items emblazoned with the CNBC logo. 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.

The retail plan comes as the business cable station is locked in a bitter battle to win back viewers.

CNBC was jubilant two years ago when longtime ratings nemesis and Moneyline anchor Lou Dobbs left CNN in a huff to join an outer space dot-com venture. But since his return in recent months to Moneyline, CNBC has taken a ratings beating as more viewers tune into CNN and its coverage of the war.

Last night, CNBC announced it has decided to move its premier business show Business Center up one hour to get a jumpstart on its competition with Dobbs.

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 Channel, 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.

News Corp. is the parent company of the Fox News Channel, which operates FOXNews.com.

The New York Post contributed to this report.