Bloomberg Television

About Bloomberg Television

History and Launch

Bloomberg Television first launched in the United States in mid-1994 under the name Bloomberg Direct, debuting as a subscription service carried on the then-new satellite television service DirecTV, initially broadcasting 13 hours a day, seven days a week. The venture was the television extension of Bloomberg L.P., the financial data and media company founded by Michael Bloomberg in 1981. Within a year the channel was renamed Bloomberg Information TV, and in 1997 the name was shortened to Bloomberg Television, the brand it carries on air today simply as "Bloomberg."

The network's early growth was accelerated by a stroke of fortune: it took over the channel space of the defunct Financial News Network and hired most of the former FNN workforce, instantly gaining experienced business-news talent. Shortly after launch, the now-defunct American Independent Network carried a simulcast of the channel at various times each weekday from 1995 to 1997, which some broadcast stations picked up in early-morning periods as a de facto morning business show. Starting July 1, 1995, the network's morning pre-opening-bell programming aired on the USA Network in a paid simulcast arrangement that lasted until 2004; the simulcast then moved to E!, where it remained until January 2009, by which point the channel's digital cable footprint had grown enough to stand alone. During its E! years, the 5–8 a.m. block was the network's most-watched period, according to Nielsen Media Research.

Ownership

Bloomberg Television is owned by the diversified information and media private company Bloomberg L.P. Michael Bloomberg personally holds approximately 88 percent of the company, with Bank of America holding about 12 percent through its Merrill Lynch stake — a legacy of Merrill Lynch's original 30 percent investment when the firm was founded in 1981 alongside Thomas Secunda, Charles Zegar, and Duncan MacMillan. The network operates as a service of Bloomberg News, the financial newswire co-founded by Michael Bloomberg and Matthew Winkler in 1990 to deliver reporting to Bloomberg terminal subscribers, and it sits within Bloomberg Media Group alongside Bloomberg Radio, Bloomberg Businessweek, and Bloomberg.com.

Programming and Flagship Shows

The channel broadcasts 24-hour business and capital-markets programming built around the trading day. Its U.S. weekday lineup, originating from Bloomberg Tower in Manhattan, opens in the pre-dawn hours with Bloomberg Brief, followed by the flagship morning program Bloomberg Surveillance, anchored by Jonathan Ferro, Lisa Abramowicz, and Annmarie Hordern. Mid-morning brings Bloomberg: Open Interest with Matt Miller, Katie Greifeld, and Sonalie Basak, covering the market open; midday features Bloomberg Markets; afternoons carry Bloomberg: Balance of Power, the Washington-focused politics show with Joe Mathieu and Kailey Leinz, and Bloomberg Businessweek Daily with Carol Massar and Tim Stenovec. The trading day closes with Bloomberg: The Close, anchored by Romaine Bostick, Alix Steel, and Scarlet Fu.

Weekend and weekly programming includes Bloomberg Wall Street Week from Manhattan, Best of Bloomberg Technology and Studio 1.0 with Emily Chang, Bloomberg Real Yield with Jonathan Ferro, Bloomberg ETF IQ with Scarlet Fu, Bloomberg Commodities Edge with Alix Steel, Leaders with Lacqua with Francine Lacqua, and Brilliant Ideas. The network also provided funding and studio facilities for the nightly PBS/WNET interview program Charlie Rose.

Global Reach and International Channels

Bloomberg Television is distributed globally, reaching more than 310 million homes worldwide. It is headquartered in New York City, with its European headquarters in London and Asian headquarters in Hong Kong (serving Greater China and Northeast Asia) and Singapore (serving the ASEAN region). The international schedule is a follow-the-sun operation: Bloomberg Asia programs from Marina Bay Financial Centre in Singapore, Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Pacific Place Jakarta, Tokyo, Seoul, and Hong Kong in the early hours; London takes over in the late morning; and New York anchors the afternoon.

Many international editions are operated by local franchise partners rather than directly by Bloomberg, including Bloomberg El Financiero in Mexico, Bloomberg HT in Turkey, Bloomberg TV Malaysia, Bloomberg Television Middle East from Dubai, Bloomberg Television Australia from Sydney, Bloomberg Television Mongolia, Bloomberg Television South Asia from Mumbai, Bloomberg Television Brazil from São Paulo, and Bloomberg Television Bulgaria. In February 2009 the company shuttered its localized channels in Germany, France, Italy, and Spain to focus on a more international feed; Bloomberg Japan ceased broadcasting on April 30, 2009. In Canada, Bloomberg TV Canada launched in 2015 with Channel Zero but shut down in October 2017, after which Bloomberg partnered with Bell Media's Business News Network to create the co-branded BNN Bloomberg service.

Notable Anchors and Personalities

The network's American anchor roster blends market veterans and financial journalists. Jonathan Ferro leads the flagship Surveillance franchise; Lisa Abramowicz and Annmarie Hordern co-anchor alongside him. Matt Miller anchors both the market-open Open Interest and midday Markets programming. Carol Massar, one of the network's longest-tenured anchors, hosts Bloomberg Businessweek Daily with Tim Stenovec. Emily Chang anchors the technology-focused Studio 1.0 and Best of Bloomberg Technology. Alix Steel and Scarlet Fu handle the market close and commodities coverage, while Joe Mathieu and Kailey Leinz cover Washington on Balance of Power. In Europe, Francine Lacqua's Leaders with Lacqua has become a signature interview franchise, and in Asia, Haslinda Amin anchors Insight and High Flyers from Singapore.

Ratings and Market Position

Bloomberg Television competes primarily with CNBC and Fox Business Network for the business-news audience, positioning itself as the choice of financial professionals — a natural extension of the Bloomberg Terminal's dominance on trading desks. By 2000, the network's 24-hour programming was available to 200 million households, and its global distribution has since grown past 310 million homes. Because much of its viewing happens in offices, trading floors, and airports rather than living rooms, traditional ratings understate its influence; its real metric is ubiquity among decision-makers. The network debuted a new on-air graphics package in January 2009, refreshed again that October, launched a high-definition simulcast on May 9, 2011 with Time Warner Cable as its first carrier, and in May 2020 introduced a 2160p 4K feed exclusive to Samsung TV Plus, using the larger screen space to display more news and data simultaneously.

Digital and Streaming Presence

Bloomberg Television streams live and free at bloomberg.com/live, a notably open posture for a pay-TV network, and its video is deeply integrated into Bloomberg.com, the Bloomberg mobile apps, and Bloomberg's social video output. The channel's signature datascreen — the dense array of market data, tickers, and charts framing its anchors — has been adapted for digital and mobile formats, and its programming is clipped aggressively for online distribution. The network also experimented early with out-of-home distribution, announcing a 2011 strategic relationship with Gas Station TV to deliver business news through screens at fueling stations. Its content feeds Bloomberg Radio and the broader Bloomberg Media digital ecosystem, and Bloomberg's television and radio content in Canada is distributed through the BNN Bloomberg partnership.

Controversy

The network's most significant regulatory controversy came in the United Kingdom, where Bloomberg Television was severely reprimanded for breaching Ofcom rules during the 2005 UK general election. The regulator found the channel had shown pro-Labour Party bias by covering the release of Labour's so-called "Business Manifesto" without providing counterbalancing airtime to the Conservatives or Liberal Democrats — a breach of British law requiring television channels to give equal time to all major parties in the run-up to a general election. The episode remains a case study in the differing impartiality regimes governing broadcasters in the U.S. and the U.K.

Studios and Headquarters

Bloomberg Television's global headquarters is Bloomberg Tower at 731 Lexington Avenue in Manhattan, New York City, the 55-story skyscraper that also houses Bloomberg L.P.'s corporate operations. The tower's street-level studios, with their direct views of Midtown foot traffic, are among the most recognizable broadcast spaces in financial television. The network's European headquarters is in London, and its Asian operations are split between Hong Kong — covering Greater China and Northeast Asia — and Singapore, covering the ASEAN region, with additional studios in Tokyo, Seoul, Sydney, Dubai, and Mumbai supporting regional programming.

Awards and Recognition

Bloomberg Television's journalism has earned recognition across the business-press awards circuit, and the network's documentary and long-form units have collected honors for financial storytelling. Its greatest institutional recognition, however, may be commercial: the channel's carriage in more than 310 million homes worldwide and its status as the default ambient news source on Wall Street trading floors reflect a level of professional trust that few networks command. The Bloomberg brand's editorial operation, led since 2015 by editor-in-chief John Micklethwait, underpins the television network with a newsgathering force of thousands of journalists worldwide.

How to Watch

In the United States, Bloomberg Television is available through cable, satellite, and telco pay-TV providers, and it streams live and free at bloomberg.com/live without authentication — one of the most accessible streams among major news networks. Internationally, the channel is carried on cable and satellite platforms across Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America, with localized advertising and business-news tickers on each regional feed. Bloomberg's mobile apps and connected-TV apps carry the live stream alongside on-demand clips, and in Canada the service is available through BNN Bloomberg. The 4K feed remains exclusive to Samsung TV Plus in the United States.