By Olubunmi Adeniyi
Lagos. March 2, 2013: Bloomberg Media Group, a division of Bloomberg L.P is set to launch a multi-year rolling partnership agreement with Nigeria-based content provider, Optima Media Group to strengthen Bloomberg’s position as a leading supplier of global business and financial news television across the African continent.
Announcing the partnership on its website this week, , Bloomberg discloses the partnership which will take effect in the second half of this year will give birth to a new entity called Bloomberg Television Africa.
Under the alliance, Optima Media Group will produce three to four hours of business programming per day which will be available to African viewers across the continent via Bloomberg’s English-language Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) feed.
Optima Media Group will engage its existing content and distribution channels to supplement Bloomberg’s English-language international news and analysis across Africa, says Bloomberg.
Localised and international Bloomberg Television content will also be packaged and distributed via satellite delivery and Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) as well as traditional terrestrial formats.
While noting that the partnership deal applies to all of Sub-Saharan Africa, Bloomberg says content will be produced in Lagos, Johannesburg, London and Nairobi with dedicated presenters, reporters and producers based in each market.
Commenting on the partnership, Andy Lack, CEO Bloomberg Media Group says the agreement with Optima Media Group will dramatically accelerate Bloomberg Television’s presence and reach in Africa.
“It is the latest component of our wider strategy to partner with leading providers in markets that have a compelling economic growth story. This has already seen us strike similar partnerships in India, Turkey, Mongolia and the Middle East. In doing so, we are able to provide viewers with the sharpest global business and financial insight as well as highly-localised and market specific content,” Lack adds.
Rotimi Pedro, Group CEO at Optima Media Group says that, “Bloomberg Television Africa will provide a dynamic and relevant context for the coverage of financial news across the continent. The programming will highlight the business in everyone from everyone in business.”
Pedro adds that, “we look forward to working closely with Bloomberg Television to bring together top CEOs, policymakers and thought leaders to explore what fuels African growth.”
An executive producer from Bloomberg will be appointed to work alongside Optima Media Group to assist in the production of the channel’s economic and business coverage drawing on Bloomberg’s extensive financial and economic data from the Bloomberg Professional service and reporting from Bloomberg’s 2,400 journalists in 146 news bureaux across 72 countries, according to Group.
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