The production of First Business was later taken over from BizNet by CONUS Communications, a joint venture of Viacom and Hubbard Broadcasting also responsible for All News Channel, who would produce the program until 2003. Barton Eckert hosted the program from CONUS' bureau in Washington, DC, with his anchor segments being fed via satellite to CONUS' headquarters in St. Paul, Minnesota, where news packages acquired from CONUS' local member stations nationwide and other sources would be inserted into the program along with Eckert's anchor segments fed in from Washington, with the finished program being delivered via satellite to local stations from St. Paul every weekday. During this era, the program also aired weekday mornings at 6:30 AM on the USA Network; at the time CONUS produced short "USA Update" news briefs for the network.