BloombergQuint gives up after three years, suspends TV division

BloombergQuint, a joint venture between Raghav Bahl’s Quintillion Media and the Bloomberg Media group, based in the United States, is set to terminate its television division.

The announcement was made by Bahl in a statement on Wednesday. Bahl is also the editor-in-chief of the Quint, a news website run by Quintillion Media.

Bahl left Network18 in 2014 after it was taken over by Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries and, the following year, founded Quintillion Media. He struck a deal with Bloomberg Media in 2016 and the joint venture applied to the Indian government for a licence to operate a TV news channel in 2017.

However, according to a 2018 report in the Economic Times, the I&B and home ministries delayed the approval for the TV licence “citing bureaucratic processes and, later, security reports”.

In December 2019, MoneyControl reported that the joint venture was set to collapse. It said Bahl’s “inability to secure a television license despite trying for it since 2016 and allegations of tax evasion and bribery” had “rattled” Michael Bloomberg, the owner and CEO of Bloomberg LP.

Responding to the MoneyControl story, Bahl dismissed the claims as “falsehoods and wrong assertions”.

Last week, the Quint furloughed 45 of its 200 employees and announced possible salary cuts for the rest.