After having recently concluded a downsizing exercise across its offices, Bloomberg TV is now gearing up for a top management rejig as part of its new strategy to reinvent itself.

Under the company’s latest move, Bloomberg TV President Sriram Kilambi is to move to a bigger role in terms of strategy, while Amrit Rai, who joined as Business Head of Big CBS Prime and Big CBS Love earlier this month, is to head the channel’s sales and marketing business.

CBS is an Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group company. Anil Ambani is a strategic investor with an 18 per cent stake in Bloomberg TV channel.

The move is expected to be officially announced in a week.

The company has also decided to cut down on the number of hours of live programming, increase its international content and reduce its staff strength by shedding 30 jobs from its 400 staffers.

The channel is to focus on shoring up direct subscription numbers, add new shows and political news in a run-up to the elections. In depth political interviews by key newsmakers and overall improved political programming is what the channel is betting big on, to plug the gap in its present programming strategy.

Compared to general entertainment channels, niche channels such as business news channels are hit the most, as they are not recognised for television ratings given their limited subscriptions, and are unable to attract advertisers. Their costs tend to be unsustainable, since their revenue lines are blocked, said analysts.

Jenhill Thakkar, Head of Media and Entertainment, KPMG, said: “Over the last three months, with the economic environment looking bleak, ads on news channels have gone down further and are showing no signs of coming back. Moreover, with the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India amending the number of ad time allowed on channels, their option of selling more time has been taken away too, severely impacting their revenue and cost structure.”

manisha.jha@thehindu.co.in

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW