Bloomberg TV Canada

Bloomberg TV Canada
Bloomberg TV Canada logo
Launched	November 17, 2015
Closed	October 5, 2017
Owned by	Channel Zero
Country	Canada
Broadcast area	National
Headquarters	Toronto, Ontario
Website	Bloomberg TV Canada

Bloomberg TV Canada was a Canadian English language Category B television channel owned by Channel Zero. It was a localized version of the U.S. financial news channel Bloomberg Television; its programming was largely identical, but also featured opt-outs for domestic programs covering Canadian business news.

The channel launched on November 17, 2015, replacing the American version that was readily available in Canada. The channel shut down on October 5, 2017 and Bloomberg subsequently partnered with its established Canadian competitor Business News Network (now BNN Bloomberg).

History

On February 26, 2015, Channel Zero announced it had reached an agreement with Bloomberg L.P. to launch a localized Canadian business news channel as an offshoot of its original American Bloomberg Television channel which was currently being distributed in Canada for several years at the time. It was later announced that the channel was expected to launch on November 16, 2015 with its studios located in downtown Toronto in the city's financial district.^[1][2]

Original logo used from 2015 to 2016

The channel launched one day later than expected on November 17, 2015.^[3] At the time of launch, the American service was withheld from being distributed by Canadian television service providers at the request of its owners, although it remained a legally authorized channel for distribution in Canada by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC).

Programming on the service largely mirrored the American channel's schedule, with the additional programs such as Bloomberg North and The Daily Brief, which were later cancelled and replaced with Bloomberg Markets: Canada in January 2017, and paid programming.

Originally launched as an exempt discretionary service that did not require a CRTC-granted television licence as it did not at launch have the required 200,000 subscribers, the channel was granted a CRTC licence on August 17, 2017 after reaching that subscriber level in 2016.^[4]

On the same day Channel Zero was granted its licence for Bloomberg TV Canada by the CRTC, Channel Zero announced in a statement that it would be cancelling all Canadian original productions for the channel and laying off 22 members of its staff relating to those productions, leading to speculation of how Channel Zero would maintain its required Canadian content quotas with no original Canadian productions. The statement referred to September 1, 2017 as the date the channel will be "changing the focus" of its programming, however, still maintaining that the channel will focus on business news and information, with reporting from Bloomberg studios in Canada and around the world, suggesting the channel will remain in operation.^[5] However, on October 5, 2017, the channel was discontinued and replaced with the American Bloomberg Television service,^[6] the channel Bloomberg TV Canada replaced at its launch in 2015. The CRTC granted a request by Channel Zero to revoke the broadcasting licence for Bloomberg TV Canada on December 8, 2017.^[7]

In January 2018, Bloomberg partnered with Bell Media's Business News Network (BNN), renaming it BNN Bloomberg.^[8][9]

Personalities

On October 13, 2015, CBC announced Amanda Lang was leaving for Bloomberg TV Canada. The network also hired former BNN journalists Pamela Ritchie as anchor of The Daily Brief and Michael Bancroft as executive producer of the channel.^[10][11]

After Bloomberg TV Canada launched, CBC reporter/anchor Danielle Bochove joined her former colleague at Bloomberg TV Canada primarily on a part-time basis, serving as substitute anchor for Bloomberg North and, occasionally, The Daily Brief, in addition to occasional reporting duties covering Canadian financial markets alongside her colleagues.^[12]

In February 2016,^[13] Channel Zero shuffled around its Bloomberg North anchor team, reducing Amanda Lang to Tuesdays & Wednesdays and luring away her fellow CBC and BNN colleague Rudyard Griffiths as anchor of the Monday program along with another former Lang colleague, Pat Kiernan, who returned to Canada to join Bloomberg TV Canada and who previously worked for CNNfn anchoring The Money Gang with Lang, Christine Romans and Ali Velshi between 2000-2004, anchoring on Thursdays. Griffiths, Lang and Kiernan rotate on Fridays anchoring an "encore"-type show recaping the week's business news stories and interviews.^[14][15]

In March 2016, Global National business and consumer affairs reporter Jamie Sturgeon left to join Bloomberg TV Canada as a general assignment reporter covering Canadian financial markets.^[16] Shortly thereafter, former National Post newspaper reporter Eric Lam for their Financial Post business and markets section joined Bloomberg TV Canada as another general assignment reporter covering Canadian financial markets.^[17]

As of May 2016, former TechTV Call For Help co-host and BNN App Central co-host Amber MacArthur has been seen occasionally filling in as a substitute co-anchor of Bloomberg North alongside WIND Mobile co-founder Anthony Lacavera, including the program on August 16, 2016.^[18][19]

In January 2017, former Reuters TV journalist, Lily Jamali joined Bloomberg TV Canada to host a new daily Bloomberg Markets: Canada, a 30-minute program recapping the day's market news.^[20]

References

External links

• Official website