Here's Why People At CNBC Are Relieved That Maria Bartiromo Left

The entire financial TV industry is in a state of flux.

WSJ recently reported on the dismal ratings at CNBC, Fox Business, and Bloomberg. Bloomberg, meanwhile, is in the midst of some kind review, and there's widespread apprehension there about what the next direction is for the network.

And the big momentous event was the recent departure of Maria Bartiromo from CNBC to Fox Business. Bartiromo is the biggest star in financial TV history, and her leaving the biggest network to a much smaller rival is a major moment.

So what's the mood at CNBC? One person who was at CNBC HQ the day after her departure described a widespread sense of "relief."

It's not that Bartiromo was disliked it's that CNBC, according to multiple people is an insanely competitive internally place for booking guests. And Maria had the best guests, leaving other reporters, anchors, and producers out in the cold.

One person familiar with the workings of CNBC, when asked about the environment, responded via email: "CNBC is SO COMPETITIVE ABOUT BOOKINGS. So much so that it always spilled over to infighting between shows."

A former on-air personality at CNBC described constant head-butts with Bartiromo over guests, and told us that well-known guests have complained about how if they ever went on another show on CNBC they would get angry phonecalls about it.

So basically, in an environment where everyone is extremely territorial about their guests, the departure of the network's most famous name frees up a lot of booking chances.

Bartiromo will almost certainly be able to help Fox Business get bigger guests, but what she's unlikely to have is any kind of monopoly on them, which means the move might help Bloomberg a bit too. Loyalty to Bartiromo and CNBC was one thing keeping some big names off the network... nobody will have exclusive loyalty to Bartiromo at Fox.

So everybody wins with the Bartiromo move.

CNBC frees up money and the rest of the editorial staff get more access to sources.

Fox Biz gets a big name and probably better guests.

And Bloomberg now has one less roadblock to booking better guests.

Win-win-win.