Four years after founding CNN Brasil, journalist Douglas Tavolaro is back with a new television project. He will launch in the second half of the year, possibly on the eve of the October elections, the Brazilian version of CNBC, a business and business channel owned by NBC, which, along with CBS, is the largest open television network in the United States with 4.5 million viewers per minute a year 2023.
The agreement between Tavolaro and NBC will be announced this Tuesday afternoon (5), but the TV news had access to firsthand information.
The Brazilian operation promises to bring an unprecedented format of journalistic channel to the country. It won't be like the North American original, which has been airing since 1989 and programming exclusively about economics and business. It will focus on this segment, but will also invest in political, sports and entertainment news. There are even supposed to be reality shows in formats like “Shark Tank” and “The Apprentice” (by NBC, by the way).
The new company will be multiplatform, meaning it will be present on pay TV, streaming, the web, social networks and wherever possible. The headquarters will be in São Paulo, with correspondents in the main capitals. Much of the programming will be live and will also include content produced by CNBC in the United States.
The channel was supposed to be called CNBC Times Brasil and highlight the CNBC brand, but that could change. Times Brasil is the name of Tavolaro's company. He will own 85% of the company; the remaining 15% comes from the English investment fund Attention Economics, based in London.
From reporter to station owner
At 46 years old and with a 25year career, Douglas Tavolaro is a selfmade man. He came from a middleclass family in São Paulo and started as a producer of investigative reports at Record in 2004 and was appointed journalistic director of the station when he was under 30.
The biographer of Bishop Edir Macedo, he was vice president of journalism at Record from 2009 to 2019, when he surprised the market by announcing that he would partner with businessman Rubens Menin to launch CNN in Brazil. He caused a stir behind the scenes in television journalism by hiring professionals from Globo and Record and opened CNN in the middle of the pandemic, in March 2020.
A year later, he left CNN, in which he owned 35% of the shares, after falling out with Menin. He fulfilled a noncompete agreement (of two years) when he tried to facilitate a new journalistic venture, again with an international corporation.
This was made possible by the entry of Attention Economics, a fund that structures and invests in media companies. He has already founded 12 new communications companies, including operations licensed to Bloomberg and CNN in Europe, Asia and Africa.
There was speculation last year that the partnership would be with MSNBC, which is also part of the NBCUniversal group, which controls NBC and CNBC. MSNBC is a conventional journalism channel that is the eighth most watched on North American television (including open channels) with 1.2 million viewers per minute in 2023. In this segment, it trails only Fox News (1.9 million). CNN ranks 22nd (591,000 viewers per minute) and CNBC ranks 71st (163,000).
NBCUniversal is one of the largest media companies in the world and is controlled by the American Comcast. The group includes Universal Studios, DreamWorks and Focus Features (cinema), Universal Parks and Resorts, the Hispanic network Telemundo, Peackock Streaming, the pay channels Universal TV, SyFy, Bravo and E! and the website Rotten Tomatoes.
In order to complete the CNBC brand licensing agreement announced today, Tavolaro first had to enter into a partnership with Attention Economics. The amount to be invested in the project was not disclosed.
It is also unclear whether Attention will only contribute 15% of the resources. The number of employees the company will employ is still unknown. Recruitment will begin in the next few days.
Tavolaro will become Chairman of CNBC Times Brasil (Chairman is the equivalent of President of the Board of Directors) and will also lead the editorial team. It is believed that in this way, with 85% of the company's shares, he will have complete control over the company and protect it from interference by partners in editorial policy. This was also a request from CNBC.
Check out the official opening statement from CNBC Times Brasil:
“From today, Brazil gets a new media group: Times Brasil. The Brazilian company owns exclusive rights to Portugueselanguage content from the world's leading business journalism brand, CNBC, owned by NBCUniversal.
CNBC is the global leader in business journalism, producing realtime news consumed by more than half a billion people across all platforms each month.
The new Brazilian company will not only be a multiplatform business news channel with 24hour coverage. In addition, a diverse program of topics that influence and inspire the business world will be presented, including politics, sports, lifestyle, entertainment programs and reality shows.
The new company is led and founded by journalist Douglas Tavolaro, who has over 25 years of experience as the founder and head of large journalism companies in Brazil. Tavolaro will be chairman and president of the editorial team, which will operate independently and be guided by international editorial standards.
Attention Economics, a Londonbased company specializing in international media companies, worked in partnership to structure the new business. The company is represented by Gregory Beichman, who served as senior vice president of commercial for WarnerMedia and CNN International and as global commercial leader for Thomson Portal.
Beitchman has been instrumental in launching more than 12 new media companies around the world. He has implemented licensing operations for Bloomberg in Eastern Europe and for CNN in Japan, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Indonesia, the Philippines, Turkey, Greece, India and Africa.
Multiplatform production
The unprecedented agreement is the first of its kind signed by CNBC in Brazil. For the first time, the awardwinning and recognized content of the world's leading business journalism will be available exclusively on Times Brasil platforms to Brazil's population of 215 million people in one of the world's largest and most dynamic economies.
The new company will have an extensive range of journalism produced by Brazilians for Brazilians. The unprecedented licensing agreement includes access to all exclusive content produced by CNBC around the world, which the Brazilian company will show firsthand on television and across all digital platforms.
CNBC produces more than 15 hours of live programming daily on a 24/7 news channel produced by CNBC in the United States, Asia, the Middle East and Europe. The company has newsrooms in Singapore and London, connected to broadcast studios in key international markets.
NBCUniversal News Group's journalism, which reports to CNBC, is the market leader in the U.S. and operates a diverse portfolio of news brands, including NBC News and MSNBC.
Today it has one of the largest and most innovative news organizations in the world. More Americans watch NBC News Group's journalism than any other news organization in the world.
Brazilian leadership team
The new company will be established with editorial headquarters in São Paulo, the country's financial capital, and will have correspondents in the main Brazilian cities and abroad. The company will have a multimedia presence and will be available on television, streaming, digital platforms and other distribution channels.
“We are excited to bring CNBC’s premium news content to audiences across Brazil in Portuguese. As a global leader in business journalism, CNBC's mission is to inform, provide insights and deliver a global business perspective with local relevance through partners like Times Brasil,” said KC Sullivan, President of CNBC.
“CNBC is a global icon of journalism, a reference for every media company on the planet. Its journalism is a unique model of trusted news that bears the NBCUniversal News Group hallmark. We will combine the strength and quality of the world leader in the field with the experience and talent of Brazilians to offer Brazil a new information option,” said Tavolaro. “We are confident that the Brazilian Times Brasil and CNBC will be on special will be greeted wisely.”
The launch date of the new channel will be set in the coming months.
Starting this month, the company will begin several activities to build the infrastructure, define the headquarters, brand identity and content, as well as recruit and train journalists and production teams across Brazil.