CNN’s Swiss channel to launch at Davos 2018

Urs Gredig, a former news presenter and correspondent at Swiss German public television, is the editor-in-chief of CNN Money Switzerland Keystone/Ennio Leanza

CNN Money Switzerland will be launched at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January. Its target audience: business decision makers and influencers in Switzerland and beyond.

From January 24, 2018, CNN Money SwitzerlandExternal link will broadcast content centred on business, finance and lifestyle on Swiss cable operators as well as on social media platforms and its website, the company announced from its new Zurich studio on Wednesday.

The country’s first national English-language multimedia business channel will target senior executives, CEOs and influencers in Switzerland. CNN executives said the venture would thus “fill the void” for business programming in English in a country in which up to half of the population are said to use or work in English every day.

CNN Money Switzerland will offer three hours of live programming every evening via flagship show “The Swiss Pulse.” There will also be themed segments, plus programmes from CNN International.

The channel will be the first standalone national CNN Money TV channel. CNN International is offering support in terms of branding, materials and expertise.

‘Swissness’

Urs Gredig, the channel’s new editor-in-chief, told swissinfo.ch that ‘Swissness’ would nevertheless remain key.

“It’s very important to me also to make the distinction that we’re not a daughter or sister of CNN International, which is much more news driven and which is mainly breaking news; we are about money, business and the economy,” he said.

“In that regard, it’s very important for us that we have that Swiss aspect, that we try to cover as much Swiss news as possible. But always with the bridge to the international audience as well, that we try to find the topics that might be of interest to everybody living outside Switzerland as well and to see what impact these topics have on them.”

Teams of international journalists will be based in Zurich and Geneva, while another studio – similar to that in Zurich – will be built in Gland, between Geneva and Lausanne.

CNN Money Switzerland is a private company based in Lausanne, explained CEO Christophe Rasch, whose company MediaGo has signed a long-term partnership with Turner Broadcasting, CNN’s parent company. He gave no further details on the financing. The company is hoping to reach a strong advertising market in Switzerland.