CNBC Asia is a subsidiary of NBC Universal, and the Asia-Pacific spin-off of CNBC in the United States. It broadcasts nine and a half hours of live Asia-produced programming, which is complemented with coverage of live market action from Europe and the US.   Its programmes are broadcast from studios in Singapore and Sydney and the network has a very active network of broadcast bureaus in Tokyo and Hong Kong. In the late 1990's, CNBC Asia merged with the then rival, Asia Business News, which was operated by Dow Jones, alongside the channel's European counterpart which also merged with Dow Jones' European operation.

The Early Days

CNBC Asia was launched in 1995 along with sister channel NBC Asia. It was originally based in Hong Kong. Anchors such as Rico Hizon, Bernard Lo, Lorraine Hahn, Dalton Tanonaka and Bill Heartley were part of the original CNBC Asia team. It adopted similar programmes from its US counterpart like The Money Wheel and Business Tonight and had a few of its own programmes as well. In addition, the channel has broadcasted programmes from CNBC US and CNBC Europe on a live and repeat basis.

Merger with Asia Business News

On December 9, 1997, Dow Jones & Company and NBC announced the merger of their international business news channels. This resulted in a merger of CNBC Asia with Dow Jones' Asia Business News (ABN), and likewise of CNBC Europe with European Business News. The merged channel launched in February 1998 and was named CNBC Asia Business News but it was simply referred to as CNBC Asia in mid-1998. As a result of the merger, there were massive employee lay-offs and programme cancellations at CNBC's Asia original headquarters in Hong Kong but Rico Hizon, Geoff Cutmore and Bernard Lo joined the newly-merged channel whose operations have been based in Singapore ever since. Programmes and personalities came mostly from ABN and were for the most part retained in their original form (i.e. title and graphics scheme). CNBC Asia also mainly used ABN's own graphics scheme rather than adopt those in use by CNBC US and CNBC Europe. In addition, there was no regional ticker for most audiences until 26 October 1998 and simulcasts of US and European programmes were very limited.

Into The 21st Century

In June 1998, CNBC Asia added CNBC Sports which it aired weekend afternoons and in October 1998, it also started airing selected episodes of the Tonight Show with Jay Leno and Late Night with Conan O'Brien on weekend evenings as CNBC Asia was replaced by the National Geographic Channel. When CNBC Asia launched its regional ticker in 1998, it introduced new shows such as Lunch Money (later replaced by Power Lunch Asia in 1999) and Market Watch (later renamed Global Market Watch) where the latter was produced by CNBC Europe but anchored from both London and Singapore. In addition, the channel substantially increased CNBC Europe programming in the afternoon by airing Europe Today in its entirety.

In October 1999, CNBC Asia had a partnership with the Australian Financial Review to present The Australian Financial Review Market Wrap, a daily round-up of market news from the Australian region hosted by James Walker and Grace Phan.

Major programming changes occurred on 30 October 2000 with CNBC Asia expanding Asia Squawk Box to 2 hours, Asia Market Watch to 2 hours in the morning and 1 1/2 hours in the afternoon and Power Lunch Asia to 1 full hour. CNBC Asia's ticker was also reformatted on that day to include colours reflecting change in the stock prices (green for an increase and red for a decrease) and a stock's ticker symbol.

In 2001, CNBC Asia introduced localised tickers to audiences in Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore and has since kept the ticker on the screen during commercial breaks.

In July 2001, Asia Squawk Box was further extended to 3 hours and more programming hours from CNBC US and CNBC Europe were added to the line-up. This was further extended in 2002 when US programming started at 20.00 SIN time uninterrupted on weeknights.

NBC Universal Acquisition

In the Summer of 2005, it was announced that NBC Universal would, like in Europe, take full control of CNBC Asia from the end of the year, ending its partnership with Dow Jones. Not long after the takeover was completed, CNBC Asia was rebranded as simply "CNBC" using their standard "First in Business, Worldwide" slogan.

The Australian Suprise

It was announced on 5 March 2007 that CNBC Asia will be opening a bureau in Sydney to track the Australian markets. This is in light of the recent global market correction. Squawk Box has had reports from Jeffrey James (a former ABC and Channel Nine reporter). This has marked the first time that CNBC Asia has an Australian correspondent since Mark Laudi returned to Singapore from Sydney. In October 2007, Oriel Morrison also joined the Sydney bureau to give reports during the afternoon session there.

While Foxtel on 7 January 2008, spun off a business channel from Sky News Australia called, Sky News Business Channel (which named after Fox Business Network in United States).

In August 2008, The Daily Telegraph reported that Channel Nine's finance reporter Karen Tso, will be joining the network in October '08. She will be the network's Sydney-based correspondent and will anchor Squawk Australia, thus replacing Jeffrey James.

CNBC also launched two brand new shows that replaced Market Watch and the CNBC Europe programme Today's Business. CNBC's Cash Flow, anchored by Maura Fogarty (first hour) and Amanda Drury (second hour), is intensely trader and investor based. Following on from the success of Worldwide Exchange, another joint production, Capital Connection was launched. It is anchored by Maura Fogarty in Singapore, and Steve Sedgwick in London. Unlike Worldwide Exchange, which is produced by CNBC Europe, Capital Connection is produced by CNBC Asia.

CNBC Asia Ticker

During the trading day, CNBC Asia runs a ticker providing information from major Asian stock exchanges, as well as US and Europe recaps. The top bar usually features the Most Active shares in the region while the bottom bar gives the latest data on indices, currencies, commodities and the treasury market. At night, the old CNBC US ticker is simulated where only the ticker symbols are displayed instead of the companies' full names. The ticker is shown continuously during commercial breaks and most of the data for the Asian ticker is supplied by Reuters.

Viewers in Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia are treated to a more localised ticker with the top bar featuring trades from their respective local stock markets exclusively.

Outside Asia, the ticker can be seen alongside with CNBC Asia programmes simulcasted on CNBC Europe and CNBC World. However, the ticker is not available on CNBC Asia's live stream at CNBC.com (both freeview and CNBC Plus) and is instead replaced by a similar looking static strip which says CNBC on the top bar and its tagline "First in Business Worldwide" on the lower bar.

CNBC Asia Co-Operations

CNBC Asia has a strategic alliance with Shanghai Media Group, which wholly owns a subsidiary, China Business Network, and a partnership with Digital Chosun, part of the Chosun group of companies, the biggest media conglomerate in South Korea.

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