Channel Zero (Owner's of CHCH) have partnered with Bloomberg to bring a Canadian version of Bloomberg Television to Canada. The channel is expected to launch later this year and will replace the current American feed that is currently available.
It's not surprising that they are picking up a lot of former BNN talent:
Michael Bancroft will be executive producer, formerly producer at BNN, also appeared on-air on the App Central show (CTV/BNN)
Pamela Ritchie, anchor, was anchor at BNN 2009-2015
Amanda Lang, producer & host, was at CBC News 2009-2015, BNN Anchor 2002-2009
Other production staff are also from BNN
Because there isn't infinite network capacity for channels. Getting carriage today is harder than it was in the past for a new one, and the existing Bloomberg is already set up with that.
I can't imagine there would be enough interest in the solely US version of the channel considered the Canadian one will be running a bunch of programming from it.
Bloomberg TV Canada Launches, Delivering Business and Financial News to more than Six Million Canadian Households
Bloomberg TV Canada is available widely to Canadian viewers on the following services: Rogers (Ontario and Atlantic) channel 81/187, Cogeco (Ontario) 817, Telus 817, Shaw 141, Sasktel 368, MTS 1146, Eastlink 664, and Shaw Direct 510 (Classic) and 153 (Advanced). The network will launch soon in Quebec on Videotron and Cogeco. A complete channel line-up is available at www.bloombergtv.ca.
Starting in early January 2016, Bloomberg TV Canada will provide daily market and business news updates live from the Toronto Stock Exchange between 8am and 2:30pm ET. Also in the first quarter of 2016, “Bloomberg North”, a new show will debut, featuring one of Canada’s leading business news journalists, Amanda Lang. Airing weekdays at 6pm ET, the 30-minute program will provide analysis on local and global business news and feature interviews with Canadian heavyweights.
You say its widely available to Canadian viewers but how many viewers actually subscribe to it. I will not pay the $6.99 extra a month that Rogers currently charges for the "News Package". I can't see it doing that well if its hinged to a package.
I was just quoting the official press release. I suspect the number of viewers is pretty low. I think most people that subscribe to it get it in a news package and never watch it. The CRTC doesn't collect subscription numbers from U.S. channels, but now that it's a Canadian channel, they might submit subscription numbers if they are big enough.
Just got a notice in the mail from Bell Aliant saying that instead of switching over to the Canadian Bloomberg, they're dropping it entirely as of December 31.
I'm sure the fact Bell owns BNN has *nothing* to do with this decision....
Bell Fibe in Ontario & Quebec doesn't carry Bloomberg TV at all. So don't think Bell owning BNN has something to do with it. They did this before. Bell Aliant had a channel not carried by Bell Fibe and it was dropped, same with BPM:tv was dropped(Bell) a few months before it shut down,the funny part about this is Bloomberg TV is available on the Bell TV App(SAT or is it Mobile TV? ) but not on Bell TV SAT?
To me I think Bell is trying to make Bell Aliant Fibe TV & Bell Fibe TV(Ontario & Quebec) with same line up(specialty channels, excluding locals/time shifting/US nets IE ABC,CBS,etc.)
If Bloomberg is important to you it's available free online and in 1080p quality, directly from the Bloomberg website, but it's the U.S. and European feeds.
When I posted the launch press release I looked at the providers on http://bloombergtv.ca/where-to-watch/ and was surprised that Bell was the only major provider that didn't carry the channel and many very small providers carry it. I think it's obvious that Bell doesn't want the competition with BNN. I think there is a good argument that Bell is giving itself an unfair advantage, contrary to CRTC rules.
I don't know if you can watch the Canadian channel live, but they post the videos of Pamela Ritchie's show here: http://bloombergtv.ca/shows/
I don't even understand why Bloomberg would want to partner with Channel Zero to provide a Canadian feed when they could have easily used their U.S. channel as a North American feed that serves Canada, U.S. and Mexico, like they do for Europe and Asia. I wouldn't pay for the Canadian feed when the other 3 available feeds are provided for Free right off of their own website.
I don't even understand why Bloomberg would want to partner with Channel Zero to provide a Canadian feed when they could have easily used their U.S. channel as a North American feed that serves Canada, U.S. and Mexico, like they do for Europe and Asia.
Bloomberg North premiered today at 6PM ET & 9PM featuring Rudyard Griffiths. Amanda Lang will host the half-hour show on Tuesday and Wednesday. It looks like it will only air 3 days a week.
Here is the schedule - more details in the press release.
Mondays
Rudyard Griffiths
How geopolitics moves markets and investing
Tuesdays
Amanda Lang
Biggest economic stories, debate-style
Wednesdays
Amanda Lang
Up close with the top minds and influencers in the world of business
Thursdays
Pat Kiernan
Latest and greatest business trends. Live from New York.
At last (maybe), a Canadian channel with the insight and guts to create a real OTA sub-channel. They would need to get CRTC approval first. Is there any indication of this?
Does anyone know what's happening with the Canadian channel - "Bloomberg TV Canada"?
I watched the last broadcast of Bloomberg Markets: Canada around the end of August and Lily Jamali made a vague comment about changes at the channel and what sounded like a goodbye. I thought that they were retooling their broadcast schedule since their licence application had been approved by the CRTC without any changes and they now had to produce 35% Canadian content.
They have been running repeats of Bloomberg North to fill up their schedule since then, but now it looks like they have just reverted to the U.S. feed with no Canadian content whatsoever. The list of "Non-Canadian programming services authorized for distribution" still has the the U.S. feed "Bloomberg Television."
@denben73 thanks for reminding me. I got a guide change on my Windows Media Center PC for Bloomberg around the same time, but I didn't realize they had changed to the U.S. channel. I use my PC mainly for recording from my antenna, so I didn't pay much attention. The only reason I noticed it was that I have the non-antenna channels hidden and whenever there's a guide change, the channel becomes visible again.
It sounds like more proof that Channel Zero has just given up on the idea.
I wondered who she would get snapped up by. I was expecting Global/Shaw to go for her as she hasn't worked for them yet and they don't have a good business team.
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