FIRST OFF . . .

NBC’s new financial cable service, the Consumer News and Business Channel, has announced it has signed deals with two major cable companies that will give it more than 2 million subscribers. NBC’s business-news venture, due to start operation on April 15, said the companies are Cox Cable Communications of Atlanta and Cablevision Systems Corp. in the suburban New York city of Woodbury. CNBC, which already has a deal with TeleCommunications Inc. of Denver that will give it 4 million subscribers, has several other deals “in the pipeline,� said CNBC executive Caroline Vanderlip. NBC announced its intention to get into cable two years ago. ABC has an 80% interest in the all-sports ESPN channel. Of the three networks, only CBS, which briefly involved itself in cable in the early ‘80s, is not now involved in cable.