Regarding Business Live being changed to Worklife some sort of thing to do with the BBC Charter? I thought the BBC was not supposed to do things that compete fully with the private sector. There are already two hard core business channels in the UK CNBC and Bloomberg. Maybe they thought it was too close to the other two and made it a bit more simpler or niche programmed.
BBC World News is operated on a commercial basis and has a nearly 30 year history of providing business programmes, from World Business Report, Business Edition with Tanya Beckett to Business Live. There's no charter issue here.
What has happened in the BBC in general is that business news has tilted towards lifestyle and consumer stories. At the same time, more of the BBC's newsgathering has come together, with more and more content being shared across outlets.
Whereas an early morning of "hard" business news every hour with up-to-date reports from the markets could be produced by BBC World News, it's not something that could be easily shared with the more light and fluffy BBC Breakfast and could well be out of date within a short time. Those softer consumer business stories however tend have a longer shelf life, therefore lend themselves to sharing across BBC outlets through the day and are more likely to generate more reaction on social media, as they are more relatable than lets say the latest trends in Government Bonds.
The switch from Business Live to Worklife certainly provided more opportunities for the programme to feature the more consumer/lifestyle slanted business stories that would also be featured on other BBC services in the morning. And with BBC World News targeting a more affluent audience than its domestic counterpart, ad breaks around Worklife and similar shows can attract a mix of both traditional corporate advertisers and lifestyle brands, rather than narrowly casting the net towards business/financial companies and competing directly with CNBC/Bloomberg.
Of course, Aaron Heslehurst's slot on BBC World News still features a mix of more traditional 'hard' business stories, but in a very unique, eccentric way!