MSNBC to Re-Air Halperin/Heilmann Bloomberg Show…

CNN’s Brian Stelter writes that MSNBC is going to announce that it will indeed re-air Mark Halperin and John Heilmann’s Bloomberg TV show…

Replacing a fiery liberal talk show host like Sharpton with the insidery duo of Mark Halperin and John Heilemann is a statement by Andy Lack, the chairman of NBC News and MSNBC, about his vision for the cable news channel.

Lack is in the process of remaking the channel, seemingly away from partisan opinion and toward political news.

Oh, it’s a statement alright. Just not the statement Stelter is suggesting…

MSNBC To Air Bloomberg Programming?

CNN’s Dylan Byers writes that MSNBC is considering Mark Halperin and John Heilman’s Bloomberg show at 6pm…

The talks, first reported by New York Magazine, center around rebroadcasting Bloomberg’s 5 p.m. show “With All Due Respect” at 6 p.m. on MSNBC, sources at both networks who are familiar with the discussions said.

“With All Due Respect” is hosted by “Game Change” co-authors Mark Halperin and John Heilemann, who are regular guests on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”

It’s worth noting in Gabriel Sherman’s original story on this, that Andrew Lack wanted to move Lawrence O’Donnell to that time slot but O’Donnell balked. That I find very interesting.

But back to Halperin and Heilman. Byers also drops this poison pill…

For many at NBC, the idea of rebroadcasting a competitor’s show feels desperate. “Talk about out of ideas,” one on-air talent at MSNBC said. “We’re going to run a rerun of another rival network’s show? As a programming decision that is completely insane.”

Ouch. That struck a nerve at 30 Rock because NBC Universal News Group’s Senior Vice President of Communications Mark Kornblau punched Byers in the face on Twitter…

Talk about conflicted. We (CNN) are going to cover our competition’s possible moves and pretend we are neutral?

There are reasons to tee off on CNN’s media reporters and the not at all clear roles they have which lead to conflict of interest charges being thrown…mostly doing with the coverage of their own network. But this particular attack smacks more of sour grapes than anything else. What’s Byers going to do? Not quote what some MSNBC talent gabbed to them about? Please…

But back to the main story. The anonymous MSNBCer is dead on. This is wrong on so many levels. It’s bad for MSNBC morale. It undermines Englewood Cliffs. And it gives even more exposure to a duo which already appear all over the place. This is one idea best left on the drawing board.

David Westin to Bloomberg TV Mornings…

Variety’s Brian Steinberg reports that David Westin will join Stephanie Rhule on a new Bloomberg TV morning program…

Westin, the former president of ABC News, will work with Bloomberg anchor Stephanie Ruhle to deliver “Bloomberg ,” a new morning program that the business-news giant hopes will make a splash beyond its time slot. Executives at Bloomberg think “Go,” which will air between 7 a.m. and 10 a.m. on Bloomberg TV starting October 5, will cultivate a crowd beyond traders seeking tips before the U.S. stock market opens, such as financial executives in Hong Kong or business leaders seeking new ideas from video delivered via tablet or smartphone.

The two vow they won’t focus overmuch on the usual business-news chit-chat, like whether the Dow Jones Industrial Average is going up or down or stock-picking. “Our audience will be impatient with that sort of stuff. They are busy people who want to get something they can use something they aren’t going to get somewhere else,” said Westin in an interview Friday afternoon. “If we don’t give them that, they are going to go on to somewhere else.”

“Go,” named for the button that executes commands on the Bloomberg news-and-data terminal that fuels the company’s coffers, is part of a broader effort to expand the company’s influence beyond Wall Street. Since the return of Michael Bloomberg, the company’s founder, to its top post after a long stint as mayor of New York City, Bloomberg has taken steps to cultivate a broader audience of high-income consumers focused on business and wealth. The new show “is really designed to be the smartest morning show, the most intelligent morning show on television,” said Justin Smith, the chief executive of Bloomberg Media.

Trouble At Bloomberg TV? Or Much Ado About Nothing?

I’m not sure how to read this. The New York Post’s Kevin Dugan writes about “trouble” at Bloomberg TV…(via J$)

Bloomberg LP’s cable business network lost an executive producer this week, the latest in a string of at least 11 departures during an especially tumultuous time at the media company.

Allison Girvin, an executive producer for morning show “Market Day,” left Bloomberg on Thursday to take a job at NBC, sources said.
Girvin was handpicked by Claudia Milne, who led Bloomberg’s TV operations in the US for little more than a year before she was pushed aside and given a “special projects” role by founder and CEO Mike Bloomberg.

Bloomberg, which charges $24,000 a year for its financial data terminals, went through one of its biggest layoffs ever last week when it cut 80 editorial staffers around the globe.

Milne was removed from her position after a public spat with Bloomberg and had been “walking around like a chicken with her head cut off,” one insider told The Post.

It sounds bad but I’m just not sure it’s as bad as it sounds…

More on Bloomberg Business’ New Look…

Nieman Lab’s Caroline O’Donovan writes about Bloomberg Business’s new web design…

Another public-facing change loyal readers are sure to notice: Bloomberg killed its comments section. Lots of media companies, from Recode to Reuters, have done this lately, which Topolsky said made him more confident in the decision. He says both writers and editors are more comfortable engaging with readers on external social platforms, where they’re likely to reach a more representative percentage of the audience.

“I’ve looked at the analytics on the commenting community versus overall audience. You’re really talking about less than one percent of the overall audience that’s engaged in commenting, even if it looks like a very active community,” he says. “In the grand scheme of the audience, it doesn’t represent the readership.”

Nothing about the new Bloomberg is set in stone; Topolsky says the entire process is iterative, and that includes the comments. The digital team will be monitoring reader behavior across desktop and mobile to see how they’re reacting to and interacting with the new site. For example, on launch day, they experimented with header height so see what readers like better. On mobile, where they’re working to “find the right balance between design and imagery and text,” Topolsky plans to experiment with different formats — more text versus more color versus a grid — to figure out what draws readers in.

Press Releases: 01/28/14

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Bloomberg Business announced a new digital platform today…

New York, NY – Bloomberg today announced the launch of Bloomberg Business, the company’s flagship digital destination that unifies its most powerful media assets to deliver a modern news experience, built for today’s global web consumer. Microsoft Corporation is the global sponsor of the launch.

Bloomberg Business is the centerpiece of Bloomberg’s new media strategy, first announced by Bloomberg Media CEO Justin B. Smith in March 2014. Bloomberg aims to build the leading, next-generation media company for global business by creating a portfolio of digitally-led, multi-platform brands that broaden Bloomberg’s core audience beyond its traditional finance roots, towards global business.

Bloomberg Business will combine and replace Bloomberg.com and Businessweek.com. The mobile-first site is powered by a new cutting-edge, custom technology platform developed within Bloomberg internally. Bloomberg Business carries the editorial DNA of Bloomberg News – factual, reliable, credible, authoritative, lightning-fast journalism at a global scale, and of Businessweek – one of the most lauded magazines in the world, with hallmark design and deep, insightful, sharp, and at times, irreverent reporting.

For the first time ever, a digital editorial team, led by Bloomberg Media’s Chief Digital Content Officer Joshua Topolsky, will marry the strengths of Bloomberg News, Bloomberg Businessweek, Bloomberg TV and Bloomberg’s digital video operation, with ambitious new web original content – all on the Bloomberg Business platform.

Bloomberg Changes

AdWeek’s Michael Sebastian writes about upcoming changes for Bloomberg…

In addition to the new Bloomberg Business site, Bloomberg TV is getting a revamp that will look to borrow Businessweek’s attitude. Josh Tyrangiel, Bloomberg Media’s chief content officer, was short on details about the TV network’s new look and feel, but identified one tricky goal: Making it cool.

“We’ve made a couple of very important philosophical decisions of what we want to be and now we’re at the pace of filling in the boxes,” Mr. Tyrangiel said. “So you are going to turn it on and say, Well that’s unexpected.”

“The challenge is to make it cool and cool is a very difficult thing to define,” he added. “Lots of people have lots of opinions about what is cool. But you know it when you see it.”

Spearheading this change is Bloomberg Media CEO Justin Smith, who reports to Michael Bloomberg, according to a memo Mr. Bloomberg sent to staff this week.

Dafydd Rees to Bloomberg…

The Guardian’s John Plunkett writes that Dafydd Rees has been tapped to head up Bloomberg’s European, African, and Middle East TV…

Bloomberg Media has hired the head of Sky News’ business unit to take charge of its TV coverage across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Dafydd Rees is the latest in a string of high-profile hirings at Bloomberg, including Ben Clissitt from the Telegraph Media Group as director of digital content, and Adam Freeman – Guardian News & Media’s former commercial director – as its first managing director for the EMEA region.

Rees, a former senior journalist at the BBC, will be responsible for overseeing the channel’s news coverage, programming, development and operations.

He previously executive-produced Sky News show Jeff Randall Live and worked on its breakfast show, Sunrise. At the BBC he worked on BBC Radio 5 Live breakfast among other roles.

Bloomberg’s Digital Media…

Digiday’s Eric Blattberg writes about Bloomberg’s digital video business…

Bloomberg Media’s digital video investments are beginning to pay off.

Half a year has elapsed since Bloomberg Media CEO Justin Smith called digital video “a golden asset,” promising “large bets” on video content and distribution as part of “a new direction” for Bloomberg’s media business. Since then, video has increasingly taken center stage on Bloomberg’s digital properties — and viewership has spiked.

Paul Marcum, a former GE marketing executive Smith hired in December, is responsible for much of that growth. After a brief stint as Bloomberg’s head of digital innovation, Marcum has served as the business publisher’s head of digital video, overseeing its video content, distribution channels and partnerships. The new role couldn’t have come at a better time, he said.

“What we are seeing now is a new ubiquity of video, especially on desktop,” Marcum told Digiday. “Users are increasingly accepting video as an integral part of their experience.”

Bloomberg Names Two To Politics Vertical…

TVNewser’s Merril Knox writes about changes in Bloomberg’s newly create Politics Vertical…

Bloomberg has announced two key appointments for its newly-created politics vertical: Tom Johnson has been named executive editor and Pat King has been appointed senior producer.

Johnson joins Bloomberg after 20 years at ABC News, where he was most recently senior broadcast producer of “World News with Diane Sawyer.” In a note to staff this morning, Bloomberg senior executive editor Josh Tyrangiel praised Johnson’s “spectacular mix of talent and temperament—his colleagues at ABC note that he’s usually the smartest guy in the room, and rarely feels the need to remind anyone of it.”

King comes to Bloomberg after nine years at “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,” where he was most recently a segment producer. Tyrangiel — who noted “he’s not here to make the show funny” — called King “a passionate observer of national politics with a tremendous instinct for research.”

In addition to overseeing the politics vertical, Johnson and King will serve as executive producer and senior producer, respectively, for the daily politics show with Mark Halperin and John Heilemann slated to launch in October.

Press Releases: 05/04/14

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Bloomberg Announces First New Digital-Led, Multi-Platform Brand: Bloomberg Politics

The First in Series of New Brands, Bloomberg Politics will be led by Mark Halperin and John Heilemann

New York — Bloomberg Media Group CEO Justin B. Smith and Bloomberg News Editor-In-Chief Matthew Winkler today announced Bloomberg Politics – the first in series of new digital-led, multi-platform brands that will live across all Bloomberg platforms. In March, Bloomberg announced a new, broad strategy for consumer media properties, including the development of new digital assets and a multi-platform approach. Bloomberg Politics, the first of the brands being launched under this new direction, will be created, launched, and overseen by Mark Halperin and John Heilemann, who will also lead political coverage across all Bloomberg platforms – Web, mobile, television, digital video, print magazines, radio, live events and more.

The series of new Bloomberg brands, including Bloomberg Politics, will deliver Bloomberg coverage in targeted content environments, providing greater depth, context and community for each topic area​. Bloomberg Politics will serve as a model to be replicated by the subsequent new brands, most of which will be squarely focused on the global business market. Each of the new brands will be developed through a deep partnership between Bloomberg Media and Bloomberg News, fully leveraging the skills, strengths, and resources of all Bloomberg News bureaus.

Deirdre Bolton to FBN?

Business Insider’s Julia La Roche writes that Bloomberg’s Deirdre Bolton is headed to FBN…(via J$)

Today was Bloomberg TV anchor Deirdre Bolton’s last day at Bloomberg, Business Insider has learned.

She’s headed to Fox Business Network, according a source who will remain anonymous.

Milestone for Bloomberg?

Bloomberg is noting that it beat Yahoo Finance for the first time in total video streams served in 2013…

After surpassing Dow Jones, CNBC, CNN Money, Fox Business and Reuters in U.S. video streams over the past year, Bloomberg for the first time beat Yahoo! Finance, one of the leaders in video streams in 2013.

According to comScore Video Metrix, Bloomberg had 34.7M streams in December, a fourfold increase year-over-year and a 31% increase month-over-month. Bloomberg.com unique visitors increased nearly 25% year-over-year in December, with 40% of the site’s audience watching video.

Bloomberg Media Group started a large video push in early 2012 to become a “digital-first” newsroom, leveraging our linear television operations and our team of technologists to create a digital video desk which produces over 200 videos a day. Bloomberg will continue to innovate in this area as the demand for video among consumers advertisers and publishers increases.

Surveying the Business News Channel Ratings Landscape…

The Wall Street Journal’s Keach Hagey and William Launder take a look at how the business channels have been faring lately…

The U.S. stock market is soaring, but ratings have sunk for the TV networks dedicated to covering it.

In the third quarter, CNBC, the dominant business-news channel, hit a 20-year low in its target demographic of adults 25 to 54 years old, according to Nielsen Holdings. Since 2008, average total daytime viewership has fallen more than 50%—to 169,000 from 348,000 —at CNBC, which commands three-quarters of the audience among business-news networks, according to Nielsen.

Six-year-old Fox Business Network remains on a long-term growth trajectory, but its average total daytime audience has declined from last year—to 58,000 from 71,000—and has fallen short of some media buyers’ expectations.

Bloomberg LP, meanwhile, is rethinking the business model of its TV channel, having failed to turn a profit or draw more than 10% of the audience for TV business news despite being on the air for nearly two decades, according to people familiar with the matter. Nielsen doesn’t release Bloomberg TV’s ratings.

Muzzled?

@Twitter closes below its hyped session high after FoxBiz calls it out 4 turning tail. PR flack @jimplosser had our producer ‘removed’

FBN’s Liz Claman on Twitter today…

A small kerfuffle erupted today in the wake of the Twitter IPO. Dealbreaker’s Bess Levin has more…

Back in September, Fox Business asked a Twitter spokesperson if anyone at the company could “chat about IPO rumors.” The response was simply: “…”, which Team FBN took to as a confirmation that plans for an IPO were imminent. It’s unclear exactly what transpired behind the scenes between the business network and social media platform after that, but based on a the six and a half minutes of airtime FBN correspondent Charlie Gasparino and anchor Liz Claman just spent referring to Twitter CEO Dick Costolo as a “nasty,” “slimy,” “scheming nerd,” it seems fair to say their interactions were less than cordial! The clip really has to be seen to be believed but it includes:

* Gasparino: “Companies like Twitter are not altruistic, they’re not charities. They’re nasty, conniving, skeevy individuals who run these companies and they want to lure in as much dumb money as possible.”

* Gasparino: “Dan Costolo.” Claman: “Dick.” Gasparino: “George, I couldn’t care what the hell his name is.” Claman: “Yeah! ‘Cause he’s not talking to Fox Business, ’cause he’s scared!”

* Gasparino: “This guy is a nasty, skeeving, scheming nerd from Silicon Valley. He is! That’s my opinion!”

* Claman: “Somebody over there is hashtag-spineless. Hashtag, maybe it’s their PR department?” Gasparino: “Don’t blame the dumb flacks, you blame the skeevy, nerdy guy that runs the company.”

* Gasparino: “It’s a big circle something between Wall Street and Silicon Valley.”

* Claman: “Fox Business and Twitter came into existence around the same time– 2007– and we were the first business network to profile them and they repay us by refusing to talk to us because Charlie and our company have been very honest about them.”

* Claman: “Twitter is not profitable years after its launch, Fox Business is– are they, hashtag-jealous?”

* Gasparino: “They’re run by these Silicon Valley nerds…doofuses…”

* Gasparino: “Is [Costolo] Italian?” Claman: “Can you believe that?” Gasparino: “That guy is not a paesan, I can tell you that much.”

* Gasparino: “I want to see a picture of Dick Costolo, can we show a picture of him?” [Someone in control room flashes a picture of DC on the screen] Gasparino: “This guy looks like the guy you beat the hell out of…I’m not advocating violence, I’m just saying he looks like—”

CNBC got Costolo this morning. Did CNBC exert pressure on Twitter to not interview with FBN? It wouldn’t be the first time something like that has happened.

There is no way to tell for sure (though appearances are pretty damning). What we do know is that Bloomberg didn’t have any trouble grabbing Costollo for an interview as soon as he was off CNBC’s set.

Does CNBC consider Bloomberg not as big a threat as FBN? Who knows…

Special Bloomberg Coverage Monday…

Bloomberg will be airing special coverage Monday titled “Countdown to the Shutdown”…

Trish Regan will anchor two special editions of our market open and close programs live from Capitol Hill (8-10 am and 3-5 pm), examining the economic and market effects of a politically dysfunctional Washington. Joining Regan on set will be Bloomberg TV contributor David Plouffe, Bloomberg TV political strategist Matthew Dowd, Bloomberg View columnist Al Hunt, White House correspondent Julianna Goldman, chief Washington correspondent Peter Cook and Bloomberg News reporter Phil Mattingly, along with the following guests:

-Sen John McCain (R-AZ)
-Honeywell CEO Dave Cote
-Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform
-Former Sen John Sununu (R-NH)
-Rep Chris Van Hollen (D-MD)
-Former Comptroller General David Walker
-David Stockman, Former Head of the OMB under President Reagan
-Douglas Holtz-Eakin, president of American Action Forum

“Countdown to the Shutdown” can be viewed across multiple platforms, including Bloomberg.com’s livestream at http://www.bloomberg.com/tv/ and on the free Bloomberg TV+ app for iPad. To find Bloomberg Television in your area, visit http://www.bloomberg.com/tv/channel-finder/ and follow us on Twitter at @BloombergTV.

Bloomberg Executive Changes…

Bloomberg announced that Justin B. Smith will be taking over as CEO of the Bloomberg Media Group and previous CEO Andrew Lack will become Chairman…

Bloomberg LP Names Justin B. Smith CEO of Bloomberg Media Group; Andrew Lack to be Chairman

Move Positions Bloomberg’s Media Group for Future and Global Expansion

New York – Bloomberg LP announced today that Justin B. Smith will serve as chief executive officer of Bloomberg Media Group, which comprises Bloomberg’s television, radio, magazine, conferences and digital businesses globally. Smith will join Bloomberg LP on September 16, reporting to CEO and President Daniel L. Doctoroff. Andrew Lack, who has served as CEO of Bloomberg Media Group since 2008, will become Chairman of Bloomberg Media Group.

Smith served as President of Atlantic Media from 2010-2013 and President of Atlantic Consumer Media division from 2007-2010. While at Atlantic Media, he spearheaded The Atlantic’s dramatic transformation from a largely print-centric magazine to a digitally-led multi-platform franchise. Under Smith’s leadership, Atlantic Media also launched several new critically acclaimed disruptive digital platforms such as Quartz and Defense One.

Trish Regan Profile…

Metro Resident’s Christopher A. Pape profiles Bloomberg’s Trish Regan…

R: At 20 you decided not to do opera? What was the impetus for that?

TR: I was a very intellectual teenager; it wasn’t like I was doing this in a vacuum. As much as I loved opera, I also loved history, I loved the study of the economy, I liked politics – there were a lot of things I was interested in. I am a naturally curious person, and my curiosity fuels me every day in journalism. My job is to explore, experience new things, meet new people and I love all of that. So singing was great, but by the time I was in 20, I realized that although I liked opera, I probably didn’t love it enough to make a life of it. Still, those years of study didn’t go to waste. I learned to speak a lot of languages because of singing; I also learned a tremendous amount of self-discipline because of singing.

R: Did you know what you wanted to do?

TR: Not at first. But, I do remember sitting down with my uncle who was an economist and learning the term “opportunity cost.” To pursue opera meant I was giving up something else. I decided to transfer from the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston to Columbia University in New York. A funny side note for you, on the day I received my acceptance letter to Columbia, an opera house that I had auditioned for in Germany, offered me a contract for the year. The timing was an interesting coincidence but, I had already made my decision.

R: What prompted your interest in financial news?

TR: I got a lot of exposure to the financial community through internships during school summers. First at a hedge fund and then as an analyst in at Goldman Sachs. At Goldman, I worked on the emerging debt markets desk and really liked it. I was analyzing the economic and political consequences of what was going on in Latin America and thought that was what I was going to do upon graduation. They made me a job offer, and I had every intention of going, except in my senior year I interned at NBC Nightly News and suddenly, everything made sense. I’d found my calling.

David Plouffe Joins Bloomberg…

Bloomberg TV announced this morning that David Plouffe had joined it as a contributor…

David Plouffe Joins Bloomberg Television as Contributor and Strategic Advisor

Washington, DC, April 25, 2013–Bloomberg L.P. today announced that David Plouffe, former campaign manager and White House senior advisor to President Obama, has joined the company as contributor and strategic advisor for Bloomberg Television.

As contributor, Plouffe will appear regularly on Bloomberg Television to offer analysis and commentary on political and business issues as they impact the intersection of Wall Street, Main Street and K Street and will lend his expertise to the discussion of technology, demographic changes and crisis management. In addition, Plouffe, widely hailed as the architect of President Obama’s two victories, will serve in an advisory capacity for the network.
“I am excited for both the on and off air relationship with Bloomberg,” said Plouffe. “Their programming lends itself to fuller discussion, which given the complexity of the issues before our country, is of great value.”

“David has one of the sharpest political minds in the nation,” said Andrew Morse, head of Bloomberg Television in the United States. “We’re thrilled he’s joining the Bloomberg team to provide his unique insight and analysis to our coverage of business and politics.”

Bloomberg TV and Streaming Video

AdWeek’s Mike Shields writes about Bloomberg TV’s online video distribution…

It’s also noteworthy that in a room full of TV producers, the Web video guys are in the meeting, chiming in on programming decisions, maybe even how things are shot. That’s because Bloomberg wants to change how business TV looks and feels. And it wants to own business Web video.

“Yesterday this place was bonkers during the Pope news,” says Chris Berend, executive producer, video development and production, pointing to the cubicleless news room where he works. It’s not exactly quiet. There are numerous live shots being filmed right alongside reporters working the phones. For a moment, Berend can’t return to his desk. “See that shot they’re filming. We can get clips on the Web really quick. We don’t have to wait until tonight at 5:00.”

It didn’t used to be that way. Berend’s boss, Andrew Morse, head of US television at Bloomberg, tells the story about when Rupert Murdoch was on trial during the UK phone hacking scandal in 2011. Some guy jumped up during Murdoch’s testimony and tried to attack him with a pie, but Mrs. Murdoch famously intervened.

“It took us 17 minutes to turn around a 15-second voiceover,” says Morse. “We’re seeing it up on the screen on various networks in seconds, and it took us 17 minutes. And I went wild. As of two years ago, we were not set up the way a video news operation ought to be set up.”

Bloomberg West Expands

The New York Times’ Quentin Hardy writes that Bloomberg West is expanding…

In a world of shrinking newsrooms, real expansion is an increasingly rare story. But next Monday, Bloomberg West, Bloomberg Television’s show on technology, will double its daily programming to two hours. Along with the existing afternoon program, Bloomberg West will present another hour of tech news at 10 a.m. Pacific time.

“We see a real opportunity,” said Andrew Morse, head of Bloomberg Television in the United States.

“The television world is flooded with mediocre content — this extra hour is more of a place for big names in the Valley to come on and talk, and to dig deeper into what the news means,” he said, speaking of Silicon Valley.

Bloomberg and Optima Media Group Team Up to Create Bloomberg TV Africa…

Bloomberg and Optima Media Group announced a partnership deal…

Bloomberg Television Announces Partnership with Nigeria’s Optima Media Group

Bloomberg unveils latest agreement to deliver African business content across the continent

Lagos and London, 28 February 2013–The Bloomberg Media Group, a division Bloomberg L.P., today announced a multi-year rolling partnership agreement with Nigeria-based content provider, Optima Media Group, strengthening Bloomberg’s position as a leading supplier of global business and financial news television across the African continent. This partnership will create a new entity – Bloomberg Television Africa.

Launching in the second half of this year, Optima Media Group will produce three to four hours of business programming per day which will be available to African viewers across the continent via Bloomberg’s English-language EMEA feed. Optima Media Group will engage its existing content and distribution channels to supplement Bloomberg’s English-language international news and analysis across Africa.

Business Booking Wars: FBN flights back…

FBN started airing a new ad calling CNBC out for its booking practices. This story may have stronger legs than I originally surmised.

Update: According to Johnny Dollar this ad has been airing on FNC too..

Booking Wars: Round Two…

The Slant’s Jeff Reeves writes about CNBC’s booking practices. Reeeves gets FBN’s Kevin Magee to comment on the matter…

If I were in the booking department of CNBC, I would think twice about some of this lest big-time CEOs and hedge fund managers tire of the whole affair.

Or as Kevin Magee, the executive vice president of Fox Business Network, said to me more bluntly, “Business leaders are not going to be blackmailed, much less be dictated to by some booker in Englewood Cliffs.”

Magee uses the right word there with “dictated.” The problem is that CNBC thinks it has a captive audience and captive contributors, and thus can tell all parties whatever it feels like.

Ah…but it can. Until someone big enough runs the blockade…someone CNBC can’t afford to blacklist. Someone like Warren Buffett for example. If CNBC dared try that on Buffett, Buffett would laugh in their face and there’s not a damn thing CNBC would do about it.

But for smaller fry “gets”…yes…it’s a real problem for FBN and Bloomberg. I think we may have witnessed just such an incident a while back when Simpson and Bowles bailed out on FBN to be exclusive for Maria Bartiromo. All FBN could do is take the the air and whine about it.

CNBC vs. FBN and Bloomberg?

NPR’s David Folkenflik writes about a booking war going on between CNBC and FBN and Bloomberg TV… (via Talking Biz News)

CNBC is far and away the television ratings leader in the financial cable news business. Now, evidence arrives that its executives, producers and reporters are going to great lengths to maintain its status.

The channel has adopted a policy that prohibits guests from appearing on rival channels amid breaking news if they want to be seen by CNBC’s larger audience.

The tension over the policy with one of its peers offers a window into the intensity of the cable battles over what’s called booking — landing interviews with key financial players, commentators, insiders and analysts.

“Every network should be trying to hustle to get content that’s distinctive to their channel,” said Andrew Morse, president of Bloomberg Television’s U.S. operations. “That’s our job. We’re in the news business.”

But Morse said Bloomberg doesn’t try to dictate who can appear elsewhere.

Linzie Janis to ABC…

TVNewser’s Alex Weprin reports that Bloomberg’s Linzie Janis is bolting for ABC…

Linzie Janis will be joining ABC News in New York as a correspondent. She had been reporting for Bloomberg TV in London for the last four years.

Betty Liu Profile…

Wanchee Wang pens a profile of Bloomberg TV’s Betty Liu for The Penn Gazette’s Alumni: Profiles…

After a few years in Asia, Liu returned to the United States to take a job with the Financial Times as its Atlanta bureau chief.

“Really, it was a one-person band,” she says. “They supplied me with a laptop and I bought a car, and that was my office.”

While in Atlanta, she did guest segments on CNN about China, its politics and economy, leveraging her experiences in Asia. Then CNBC Asia offered her a foreign-correspondent position in Hong Kong.

“I decided to take the plunge and do television,” she says, and a few years later, Bloomberg TV offered her a show in New York. Financial news is a highly competitive field, and Liu acknowledges that balancing family and career was a major challenge.

“Like many women, I struggled for a while with ‘How do I have kids while continuing to grow my career? Should I stay home?’” she recalls. “I started to look at role models during that time, women whom I saw were working and having great careers, and they had children and they were still able to be at the very top of their fields. So I said, ‘I won’t change my goals. I’ll just make them all fit together.’”

Bloomberg TV Lands Obama Interview…

Bloomberg TV announced that it will air an interview with President Obama today at 12:30…

BLOOMBERG TV TO INTERVIEW PRESIDENT OBAMA

Airs today at 12:30 pm ET

President Obama sits down with Bloomberg White House correspondent Julianna Goldman at the White House today for his first television interview since the election. Airing at 12:30 pm ET, Goldman and the president will discuss the fiscal cliff – now just four weeks away.

Preview video here.

Betty Liu Profile…

The New York Observer’s Patrick Clark profiles Betty Liu while her program In the Loop does  post Election drill down…

It was the morning after the presidential election on the set of Bloomberg Television’s In the Loop, and Leo Hindery Jr., a partner at InterMedia Partners and a sometime adviser to Democratic officials, was pumping his arms in an off-air shimmy.

“Ohio, baby,” he said, naming the point in the previous night’s returns when he’d begun to celebrate. Then the cameras rolled, host Betty Liu repeated the question, and the private equity investor stifled a smile.

Mr. Hindery’s giddiness aside, there was reason to believe that Ms. Liu’s Wednesday morning show would be gloomy. During the run-up to the election, much had been made of Wall Street’s support for Mitt Romney and its antipathy toward President Barack Obama, the turncoat who banked the financial sector’s support in 2008, then chided banker “fat cats.” And so Off the Record arrived at Bloomberg’s Lexington Avenue headquarters to take in the news outlet’s weekday morning television show, looking to gauge the Wall Street’s morning-after mood. (Disclosure: this reporter was an intern at Bloomberg News during the summer of 2011 and the winter of 2012.)

Trish Regan Profile

Haute Living.com’s Billy Gray profiles Trish Regan…

When we met with Regan at the Street Smart set, she’d recently returned from maternity leave after giving birth to her third child, Jamie, in July. (Regan and her husband, James Ben, also have two-year-old twin daughters, Alexandra and Elizabeth.) Motherhood does give her pause about those high-risk jobs in Medellín. “I don’t think I’ve ever been reckless, but I wouldn’t be truthful if I said my responsibility to my kids didn’t make me think twice,” she said.

Regan approaches all assignments diligently, whether they bring her to bleak crisis spots or, as Pursuits did, Branson’s 105-foot catamaran, the Necker Belle. “At the end of the day it’s about reporting a good story,” she said. “If it means being in some hellhole God knows where, great. And, yes, if you want to take me to Necker Island and put me on a yacht for thirty-six hours off the coast of the Dominican Republic to swim with whales and drink champagne, great! They’re equally challenging, and equally fun.”

Just as Regan continues to love opera while committing herself to journalism, the moguls she profiles on Pursuits maintain personal passions well outside of the boardroom while managing sprawling businesses. Branson opened his boat to Regan and introduced her to whales. Jim Glickenhaus gave her a tour of his 8,000-squarefoot- garage replete with custom-built Ferraris. And Lauder broke down an art market that the fervent collector has helped propel to staggering new heights.