Bloomberg and India's UTV to Create Business TV Network

Bloomberg Television, and UTV India, the leading integrated media and entertainment company have announced that they are joining forces to create a television channel to deliver unsurpassed real-time business news.  The channel will also focus on economic and politica news, broadcasting to households across India.

UTVi, UTV's current business channel, UTVi will be rebranded to Bloomberg-UTV, merging UTV's local newsgathering and production capability with Bloomberg's worldwide newsgathering and reporting network.  The channel will also have access to Bloomberg's global network feed, and news and information resources from Bloomberg's 145 bureau's around the world.

The website of UTVi, UTVi.com will also be rebranded as bloombergutv.com using enhanced content from the Bloomberg network, creating the fastest growing financial portal in India.

Andy Lack, CEO of Bloomberg's Multimedia group said; "The Bloomberg Television network is excited to be joining 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, who make up the most affluent and influential audience in the world.  By working with UTV to realize our shared vision for business and financial television, Bloomberg renews its commitment to delivering business, economic and political news and analysis to viewers in India, and at the same time to delivering news about one of the world's most dynamic economies to investors across the globe."

Ronnie Screwvala, Chairman of UTV News Ltd said; "The addition of 14-15 million television sets every year and a rapid change of preference in favor 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 India 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."

India's economy recently crossed the one trillion (USD) mark. At an annual growth rate of 6%, this makes it one of the fastest growing economies in the world. Demand for business and financial news is expected to increase among Indian households, which have already shown a unique affinity for economic news and information.

• Bloomberg Information