A billboard across the street from Cable News Network’s headquarters in Atlanta has Fox News Channel piping mad, AP reported.
Fox News said it has been renting the billboard from Atlanta-based Camfaux LLC since 1999, but the company refused to post its latest CNN-tweaking message.
According to a letter from Fox News to Camfaux, obtained by AP, the billboard is now supposed to read, “Now That CNN's Ratings are Gone With the Wind, Our Work on This Board Is Done. We Love You Atlanta. Brought to you by your friends at FOX News Channel.”
Another pot shot aimed at CNN employees was targeted for the bottom of the billboard: “Sign Up with America's Newsroom! Forward resumes to resumes@foxnews.com."
“Should you choose not to put up the billboard immediately, we will consider all options available to us, including, of course, legal options,” Fox lawyer Dianne Brandi wrote in the letter, in which Camfaux president Tony Vergoven was referred to as "Tony Vergone."
However, Vergoven told APthat while his company owned the billboard when Fox began renting it, it has since been sold to Boardworks Outdoor Advertising, another Atlanta-based company. "We have no control, or we'd be taking care of Fox," he said.
Since 1999, the billboard has either been used to brag about Fox News or to take shots at CNN.
At one point, AP reported, it featured legal reporter Greta Van Susteren, shortly after she bolted CNN for Fox News, and accused the network of lacking patriotism during the war in Iraq.
For the past several months, AP added, the billboard has read, "Come Home Connie. CNN Needs You." CNN fired anchor Connie Chung in March.
