Last February, Asia Business News' (ABN) chief executive officer Paul France was asked if the region could support two business TV channels, two months after the first rumours had circulated that ABN would merge with bitter rivals CNBC (Cable NBC).
Mr France paused for a moment before stating unequivocally: 'I'm telling you - there is only room for one business TV channel, and that channel is ABN.' Yesterday, as ABN's owners Dow Jones, and General Electric, which owns CNBC, announced the channels would merge into a joint venture with Mr France as president, the bluntly-spoken New Zealander could be forgiven for feeling triumphant.
Under the terms of the deal, CNBC's operation in Chai Wan will close on February 2 with the loss of most of the 40 editorial jobs, and the new channel's headquarters and studios will be sited at ABN's Singapore base.
The Chai Wan site will only be used to transmit the channel regionally, although the NBC Asia controlling company will handle the distribution and marketing from the SAR.
In Europe, the two sides will merge European Business News and CNBC Europe to form 'CNBC - a service of NBC and Dow Jones'. In the United States, CNBC will continue, although Dow Jones will now contribute to the channel.
Although the Asian channel will be branded 'CNBC - a service of NBC and Dow Jones', ABN personnel will hold the key editorial positions. In addition to Mr France, Christopher Graves, ABN's managing director, will become the director of programming.