Bloomberg Television

From tomorrow (today in Europe/The Americas), Bloomberg Television is modifying its schedule. Details are light but from what I can gather:

- 6-9p ET/ 11pm-2am UK / 6-9am HK: Shery Ahn is the permanent replacement for Betty Liu, who is now Vice Chairman of the NYSE. She will anchor Daybreak Australia and Daybreak Asia from New York, along with the current anchors in Sydney/Hong Kong.
- 9p ET / 2am UK / 9am HK: This hour now becomes Bloomberg Markets: China Open from Hong Kong matching the market open shows in Europe/The Americas.

- 10a ET / 3pm UK / 10pm HK: This hour is no longer anchored from London following Caroline Hyde's relocation to New York (where she has replaced Julia Chatterley). It will be anchored solely from New York.
- 11a ET / 4pm UK / 11pm HK: Bloomberg Markets: European Close is axed and Mark Barton no longer has a slot. This hour will also now be anchored solely from New York.

- 2-5p ET / 7-10pm UK / 2-5am HK: The first two hours become Bloomberg Markets: The Close and the final hour remains as a shortened What'd You Miss? .


With these changes, it still leaves an impressive schedule with shows anchored and produced live from Sydney, Hong Kong, Singapore, Dubai, Berlin, London, New York, Toronto and San Francisco each business day. Can't think of another broadcaster which has such a global programming schedule.

True but their schedule has been a never ending rotation of changes and different presenters coming, leaving and hopping from one place to another, for the last 3 years. So many big names and great talents have left in last 2 years, mostly to NBC. I didn't even know Betty left, that's an impressive jump for her!

When it comes to presentation, their music and graphics are still great but sets leave a lot to be desired. While London got an amazing new building, newsroom and studio, NY is so messy with the orange cardboard building backgrounds and stuff. The new Hong Kong set is quite good.

To me, Bloomberg feels like a decent attempt at a news & business channel, but ultimately is little more than functional, and really just barely functional as a business channel. It survives mainly because of the terminal side of the business, whilst the broadcast side struggles to make money.

I agree with you. Indeed, on the first week of these changes not all the anchors were there and there were a good number of on-air mistakes. There are also a few anomalies - Shery Ahn has kept the final half hour of her old shift meaning she does 1.30-2, a segment at around 4.45 and then 6-9pm ET - that's a pretty long day (although on Friday's Vonnie Quinn now does 1.30-2 instead)! Plus, Heidi Lun does Daybreak Asia from Sydney instead, with Rishaad Salamat and David Ingles doing all 3 hrs of Bloomberg Markets . Then the US Close is now split into 3: 2-3.50 ( Bloomberg Markets: The Close ), 3.50pm-4.10 ( Countdown to The Close )and 4.10-5pm ET( What'd You Miss ). All three with Caroline Hyde, the first two with Scarlet Fu, the last two with Joe Wiesenthal and the final with Romaine Bostick. There also seems to be no permanent replacement for Caroline Hyde/Mark Barton, with various substitutes or Vonnie solo. All in all, it now means there are about 22 different anchors over the 24 hour period if the schedule runs as planned, with 2 fewer in Asia and 2 fewer in EMEA. It's still a massive operation I imagine.




I imagine you're right, which is why there are heavy 'redirecting' segments - with the anchors inviting the audience to <TV>GO and various charts on their terminals, which now also have a facility where you can direct message the show's producers/anchors with comments and questions for their guests in real-time. Plus, there are segments previewing Businessweek magazine and you can no longer watch their live stream for more than 30 mins online without subscription. Television must do well enough to continue having about 22 daily anchors doing various different shows from 10 different broadcasting hubs. I agree that when sat at your desk and you just want to glimpse at what's happening, it's not immediately as apparent as other channels but when you have the time to catch a full hour, the news updates, the 'global outlook' - it is good and there is no filler (cough cough CNBC Sports cough cough paper reviews on BBC/Sky/F24)... even Bloomberg's "Battle of the Charts" might be cheesy and lack any urgency but they are informative and when explained well are actually quite insightful.