CNBC Asia
| Headquarters |  Singapore |
|---|---|
| Ownership | |
| Owner | NBC Universal |
CNBC Asia is a business news channel in Asia. A subsidiary of NBC Universal, it is the Asian service of the Consumer News and Business Channel (CNBC). Its programmes originate out of from Singapore and Sydney and has bureaus in Tokyo and Hong Kong.
History
1995-1997: Pre-ABN Merger
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.
Post-ABN Merger
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.
From then (until January 2006) the international CNBC services carried the tagline "A Service of NBC (Universal) and Dow Jones" (or depending on other local partners, a variation of this tagline) when introducing regional programmes (including magazine programmes) and airing general channel promotions.
mid-1998-2002
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 NBC 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.
2006: Full control by NBC Universal
In July 2005, it was announced that NBC Universal would take full control of CNBC Asia from 31 December 2005, subject to clearance. The channel's main sequences reverted from "CNBC Asia - A Service of NBC Universal and Dow Jones" to simply "CNBC Asia" on 1 January 2006. But, on 30 October 2006, to further distinguish itself between its other counterparts, "CNBC Asia" simply rebranded itself as "CNBC", and adopting CNBC's new general slogan, "First in Business Worldwide".
2007: Return to Sydney
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.
Programming
2007 Programming Revamp
During the week of 19 March 2007, CNBC Asia commenced promotions for Squawk Australia, hosted by James, which debuted on 26 March 2007 from a studio in Sydney. It airs from 9.00 Sydney Time/6.00 SIN/HK time weekdays. A revamped Asia Squawk Box, anchored by Amanda Drury and Martin Soong, follows at 7.00 SIN/HK time weekdays.
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.
On 27 September 2007, CNBC Asia announced strategic initiatives to push into the Australian market. Two new shows were introduced to the network: Trading Matters, a wrap-up of the day's market action, and Australia This Week, a concise show summarizing the week's highlights. Both shows are anchored by newly-appointed CNBC anchor Oriel Morrison, formerly of Channel Nine and Bloomberg Television. The shows debuted on 2 and 6 October 2007 respectively at 17.30 Sydney time/15.30 SIN time as the channel moved its Sydney bureau into a new studio situated across from the Australian Stock Exchange building. The move has also seen CNBC Australia re-introduce opt-outs from the pan-Asian feed for additional airings of Trading Matters and Australia This Week.
Weekday line-up
The channel's major weekday business day programmes are (pan-Asian feed):
Weekends
CNBC Asia mostly broadcasts sporting programmes, particularly NFL games. It also broadcasts repeats of Asia Market Week, Australia This Week, Europe This Week, High Net Worth, Suzy Orman, The Leaders and Managing Asia.
End-of-year programming
In the last 1-2 weeks of the year, CNBC pre-empts most of its regionally produced daytime programming and replaces them with pre-taped specials. Among the daytime programmes, only 1 hour of Asia Squawk Box is usually broadcasted at this time. Simulcasts of programmes originating from CNBC US and CNBC Europe remain unaffected. Regular programming usually resumes immediately after new year's day.
Past shows
Among the shows that have been canceled are:
Weekdays
- Breakfast Briefing (replaced by CNBC Today on 2000-04-03)
- CNBC Today (replaced by Asia Wake Up Call on 2002-03-18)
- Asia Wake Up Call (replaced by Asia Squawk Box on 2003-03-31)
- Trading Day (replaced by Asia Market Watch and European Market Watch on 2000-04-03)
- Lunch Money (replaced by Power Lunch Asia on 1999-11-01)
- Power Lunch Asia (replaced by Meet The Press and US Business Center on 2003-03-31 after Rico Hizon's leave)
- Asia Market Wrap (replaced by Europe Squawk Box then Worldwide Exchange on 2005-12-19)
- Asia Nightly News (replaced by e on 2000-07-03)
- Global Market Watch (replaced by Business Center on 2000-10-30)
- Business Center (replaced by CNBC Tonight)
- Australia Market Wrap
- Australia Market Week
- The Australian Financial Review Market Wrap (replaced by Australia Market Wrap)
- Business Centre Australia
- e (replaced by CNBC Tonight)
- CNBC Tonight (replaced by Worldwide Exchange)
- The Asian Wall Street Journal (replaced by CNBC Tonight)
- Asia Market Watch (replaced by CNBC's Cash Flow and Asia Squawk Box on 2007-03-26)
Primetime & Weekends
- Generation e (replaced by CNBC Tonight)
- CEO Australia
- dot.commerce (replaced by e on April 2000)
- Far Eastern Economic Review or Review On Air (cancelled in April 2001)
- Driven (cancelled in 2000)
- Over Asia (cancelled in 1999)
- New Company
- Lo & Company
- Asian Working Woman (cancelled in April 2001)
- Smart Money (cancelled in 2000)
- Challenging Asia (cancelled in 2000)
- Storyboard (cancelled on 2000-10-29)
- Asia This Week (cancelled in March 2003 after Rico Hizon's leave)
Simulcasts outside the region
In the US, all of CNBC Asia's daytime programmes except for Trading Matters are seen on CNBC World.
As for Europe however, CNBC Europe has chosen to scale back simulcasts of CNBC Asia programming overnight in favour of poker games. CNBC Asia's entire morning line-up can only be seen starting at Sunday, 22.00 to Monday at 04.00 UK time. At other times, only Cash Flow's 2nd hour and Capital Connection are seen on CNBC Europe.
Since 23 April 2007, a free live and commercial-free stream of CNBC Asia has been available on CNBC.com every Monday, from 6AM to 4PM SIN/HK/TWN time. (Sundays 6PM to 4AM ET with DST) [1] At other times, the stream can be accessed by subscribing to CNBC Plus, which costs $9.95/month or $99.95/year.
New look and studio
CNBC Asia's on-air look was revamped on 30 October 2006, aligning its graphics package to that of CNBC US and CNBC Europe. Like CNBC Europe but unlike CNBC US, the graphics is not 3-D. In addition, they elected to keep the theme music the same as the previous graphics package. On 26 March 2007, CNBC Asia introduced more changes to its on-air look, with new "lower thirds" similar to those used on CNBC US since late 2006, along with changing to the new US theme music for Squawk Box.
A new studio, the first for CNBC Asia since the early 2000s, also made its debut on that date. That studio is used for Asia Squawk Box and Capital Connection. This marked the end of the exclusive use of a virtual studio with a blue/green screen for shows originating from Singapore.
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.
Personalities
Present Personalities
Anchors
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Correspondents
Past Personalities
Anchors/Presenters
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Correspondents
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*left before the 1998 merger with Asia Business News
Other CNBC Asia Services and Partnerships
CNBC-based Channels
In conjunction with local partners it provides the following local channels:
- CNBC-TV18 (formerly CNBC India)
- Nikkei CNBC (in Japan)
- CNBC Pakistan
Other TV and Print Partners
- Etomato and Chosun (in South Korea) [3]
- Etomato airs LIVE CNBC U.S. programs weeknights from 12AM to 7AM KST, including the second hour of The Call, Power Lunch, Street Signs, Closing Bell, and Kudlow & Company. [4]
- With a partnership with Chosun, South Korean business can be seen in its Asia News section.
- Formerly MBN-CNBC was also provided in Korea. However CNBC Asia and MBN agreed to dissolve their partnership in May 2005.
- China Business Network (in China)
- In the Philippines, the second hour of CNBC's Cash Flow is simulcasted on ANC. Managing Asia is also shown on ANC at 8.30 local time on Saturdays.
- Formerly, CNBC Asia was seen 24 hours a day on terrestrial TV channel 11 in the Philippines from June 2001 to July 2002.
- Even after Dow Jones had sold its stake to NBC Universal, correspondents from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal Asia continued contributing to the channel.
Airline Partners
Managing Asia can be seen on Singapore Airlines. [2]
Mobile services and podcasts
CNBC Asia also also delivers financial news to mobile phone users by keying-in http://asia.cnbc.com. Subscribers in Singapore's M1, Indonesia's Telkomsel and Cambodia's Mobitel can see live streaming of the channel and selected on-demand clips from its shows. [3]
The channel also offers podcasts free-of-charge.
CNBC Asia Taglines
- "First in Business Worldwide" (2006-10-28—Present)
- "The World Leader in Business News" (2004-11-01—2006-10-27)
- "Now more than ever" (2002-07 - 2002-12)
- "Profit from it" (2000-10-30—2004-10-31)
- "The World is Asia Business" (Circa 1999)
- "Business Intelligence" (1998—2000-10-29)
- "A Service of NBC and Dow Jones" (1998—2005-12-31)