UTVi joins hand with Bloomberg; renamed as BloombergUTV

UTVi and Bloomberg have entered into a strategic content JV. The co-branded channel to be renamed BloombergUTV

UTVi and Bloomberg have entered into a content arrangement joint venture (JV). UTVi, the business news channel from the stable of UTV, will be rebranded as BloombergUTV from next month.

The Bloomberg Television network is a global 24-hour business and financial television service, broadcasting to more than 200 million homes.

UTVi joins hand with Bloomberg; renamed as BloombergUTV

Starting next month, UTVi will have access to the Bloomberg Television network global feed, supported by 145 bureaus of the agency located around the world. The tie up will also reflect in the digital space of the channel. In fact, the website of UTVi has been changed from UTVi.com to bloombergutv.com and will soon have content sourced from Bloomberg as well.

At the moment, it is not clear what on air changes will be brought about as a result of the tie up. The content mix will include business, economic and political news. The rebranded channel, BloombergUTV, will incorporate substantial international programming elements from the Bloomberg Television worldwide network. There will be a close cooperation between the editorial and production teams of both networks.

UTVi also has a tie up with Business Standard (BS), the financial daily, as a content provider. In the past, it had also entered into a strategic content sharing alliance with Disney-ABC International Television (Asia Pacific), the international TV distribution arm of The Walt Disney Company, for ABC News programming and services.

Though as part of the tie up with BS, UTVi has access to source content for BS wire, BS alerts, BS breaking news and the best business bytes from the business daily, this alliance never really took off and UTVi and BS have not shared any substantial news coverage till date.

In an official communiqué, Andy Lack, chief executive officer, Bloomberg's Multimedia Group, says, "The Bloomberg Television network is excited to join forces with UTV in providing a business and financial news channel with remarkable breadth and depth of reporting for the Indian market. We will welcome 30 million households in India to Bloomberg's community of more than 200 million television households."

He adds, "By working with UTV to realise our shared vision for business and financial television, Bloomberg renews its commitment to delivering news about one of the world's most dynamic economies to investors across the globe."

Ronnie Screwvala, chairperson, UTV News, says, "The addition of 14-15 million television sets every year and a rapid change of preference in favour of premium channels will drive viewership of business news in India.

This is where our association with Bloomberg, clearly the world's biggest and most credible business news brand, will create impact for the Indian market. We are thrilled about this collaboration and believe the audience in India will strongly benefit from the news, analysis and the world's most powerful business analytics tools that Bloomberg brings to bear."

For the record, UTVi is an English business news channel launched in 2008 by UTV Software Communications. The channel is targeted at the growing business aspirations of a progressive India.

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