CTVglobemedia sent Report on Business Television to an early grave on Friday, when the cable news channel was relaunched as the multiplatform Business News Network.

While the newly named brand’s programming and positioning remains the same as ROBtv, the ROB brand will now be associated only with The Globe and Mail newspaper, magazine and website. The renamed BNN will continue to draw on the Globe‘s journalistic resources and operate a separate newsroom at the CTV news division.

ROBtv launched in 1999 as an extension of the Globe‘s business section.

BNN’s schedule — which includes former ROBtv programs such as Market Morning, The Street, Trading Day and After Hours — will soon introduce special coverage, including a look at the impact of global warming on the Canadian economy, the Conrad Black trial and the BNN C-Suite Survey. Online, www.BNN.ca will feature full-length on-demand programming from the TV channel. The net’s also making video news available by mobile via a partnership with Bell Mobility.

From Media in Canada