Bloomberg launching streaming TV channel on Monday

Lukas Alpert of The Wall Street Journal writes about Bloomberg’s streaming TV channel, built around its social-media brand QuickTake, which will go beyond Bloomberg’s core areas of finance and markets, with greater focus on general-interest and lifestyle news.

Alpert writes, “It will begin with 10½ hours of daily news and documentary programming, and will launch on streaming platforms including Apple TV, Roku and Amazon Fire TV, the company said.

“Meanwhile, Bloomberg is developing a solid business from selling $39.99-a-month subscriptions to its flagship news website. It now has 250,000 subscribers, some 40% of them outside the U.S., said Justin Smith, chief executive of Bloomberg Media.

“‘We have been building our digital presence and have been aggressively seeking to position our media company within the new media landscape,’ Mr. Smith said. He expects the site to generate over $100 million in subscription revenue by the end of next year.

“Bloomberg’s sophisticated terminals, which provide reams of financial data as well as reporting from Bloomberg News, account for most of the $10.5 billion in revenue the company brought in last year, according to research firm Burton-Taylor International Consulting. But the growth of the terminal business has slowed. In recent years, the company has given renewed focus to developing its consumer-media business, which could have greater growth potential.”

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Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.