yeah your 100% right for most people. but i do think u retain a bunch of info by just having the news on in the background. and that cant hurt. i just trade news for a living and cnbc is an amazing source for breaking news often. yeah most news i get is off bloomberg or reuters. but once and awhile u will get a homerun from cnbc. but if you dont know what your doing or whats priced in or expected/old you will get smoked! but the most important part of trading news for a living is knowing the best u can how the market will react to a specific news story.
I don't get CNBC on my TV. Wouldn't watch it if I did. Don't read Money Magazine either. Or the Wall street Journal. Look at my trading screen pretty often, though.
I wake up to the Faber report on CNBC and go to my office downstairs to trade. David Faber is the only person I really listen to on CNBC rest are background noise.
This is the first year I have made money using CNBC, but for that matter, all I had to do was watch the government channel when Bailout was voted down and then was passed, otherwise it is just backround noise and a very limited stock idea.