Bloomberg TV chief Andrew Morse is interviewed by Ad Week, and he goes into some detail about where he sees the channel fitting into the competitive landscape. He also addresses Bloomberg’s FCC complaints regarding “neighborhooding,” or putting the network in the same channel neighborhoods as its competition:

Do you see yourself competing with or trying to be like a CNBC or a Fox Business, or something else?

The competitive landscape is more than just CNBC and Fox. Our goal is to be the most influential business and financial news organization on the planet. We want to be competitive in this space not just on linear television by the way, but across the media spectrum.

Let’s talk about neighborhooding. Are you targeting the New York market specifically? Are you looking to buy your way in?

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Last week Bloomberg LP hosted the movers and shakers of the New York media world to fete Charlie Rose, who is celebrating the 20th anniversary of his eponymous program. Among the attendees: News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch and wife Wendi Murdoch, ABC News anchor Barbara Walters, NBC News anchor Brian Williams and foreign correspondent Richard Engel, CBS News president (and former Bloomberg TV chief) David Rhodes, CBS News chairman Jeff Fager, correspondent Lara Logan and VP of programming Chris Licht. Not surprisingly, Bloomberg Media Group CEO Andy Lack and Bloomberg TV chief Andrew Morse were there, serving as hosts. Also in attendance: actor Bradley Cooper, because why not?

At the event Williams–whose wife Jane Williams contributes to Bloomberg Radio–turned the tables on Rose, and interviewed him abut his career.

Pictures from the event are below.

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Buried in the New York Times article about the business networks this morning is this little nugget about Bloomberg TV:

Bloomberg Television has struggled to stand out since its inception in 1994. Recently it has replaced staid graphics, refashioned its schedule, taken out ads in New York for its morning anchors, Margaret Brennan and Betty Liu, and battled for better distribution. (It is available in about 60 million homes.) Over time, the network may reorient itself toward more general news, a bit more like CNN

Update: Bloomberg has released a statement from head of U.S. television Andrew Morse more or less denying that it plans on changing its focus. Read it after the jump.

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Bloomberg TV international desk editor Mosheh Oinounou is leaving the company to join CBS’ “The Early Show” as a senior producer, based in Washington DC.

Before joining Bloomberg, Oinounou was a producer for “Fox News Sunday,” and a political producer for Fox News Channel. Interestingly enough, Oinounou has been following David Rhodes as he has moved from organization to organization. Rhodes was an executive at FNC before joining Bloomberg as the head of Bloomberg TV. Earlier this year he became president of CBS News.The memo announcing his hire from “Early Show” EP Batt Humphreys is after the jump.

Oinounou’s hire is the latest in a string of moves designed to bolster the morning show’s political coverage in advance of the 2012 presidential election. The program has held town halls with political leaders, and earlier this month the National Journal profiled the program’s political ambitions.

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Andrew Morse is leaving ABC News after 15 years and joining Bloomberg as head of U.S. Television.

Morse will oversee editorial, programming, operations and development in the U.S. for Bloomberg Television, the 24-hour business news channel. In addition, he will work across Bloomberg’s print, radio, mobile and digital media properties. Morse will report to Bloomberg Media Group CEO Andy Lack.

“As a producer, he’s created exciting, smart television for a global audience, making him an ideal fit as Bloomberg continues to build a world-class multimedia organization,” said Lack in a statement.

Morse joined ABC News in 1996 as a desk assistant in the Washington bureau. Over the years he’s been a producer in the London bureau and was ABC’s Asia bureau chief and producer. In 2004 he returned to ABC News New York and produced the early morning shows before being named EP of “Good Morning America” Weekend in 2007.

Most recently, Morse has been on the ABC News Digital team.

The Bloomberg job became vacant in February when TV chief David Rhodes was named president of CBS News.

Note from ABC News president Ben Sherwood, after the jump…

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ABC News has dropped conservative blogger and commentator Andrew Breitbart from its midterm election coverage.

Breitbart was scheduled to appear as a commentator on the network’s “digital town hall” on ABCNews.com and Facebook. He also said he would appear in a limited fashion on the broadcast network, a claim which ABC News disputed.

This afternoon, the network sent Breitbart the following letter from ABC News Digital chief Andrew Morse:

Dear Mr. Breitbart,

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It didn’t take long, after conservative author, commentator and webtrepreneur Andrew Breitbart announced he would be participating in ABC News’ election night coverage, for the pitchforks to come out.

Keith Olbermann gave ABC News the bronze in ‘World’s Worsts’ last night (video after the jump), the Twittersphere’s been buzzing all day, and the Washington Post now reports ABC News insiders are none too pleased either. “This blindsided a good portion of the team here,” a source emailed WaPo’s Greg Sargent. “And not in a good way.”

Andrew Morse, executive producer of ABC News Digital, was forced to explain Breitbart’s role today. He is a participant in an election night Town Hall to be streamed on ABCNews.com. “There has been considerable consternation and misinformation regarding my decision to ask him to participate,” says Morse, explaining: “Mr. Breitbart is not an ABC News analyst. He is not an ABC News consultant. He is not, in any way, affiliated with ABC News. He is not being paid by ABC News. He has not been asked to analyze the results of the election for ABC News.”

ABC News has anchor David Muir and Facebook’s Randi Zuckerberg (big sis to Mark) at the Town Hall at Arizona State University. They will be contributing to ABC News’ TV coverage Tuesday night. Breitbart will not.

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ABC News employees will soon be getting a letter in the mail asking them if they’d like to give up their jobs. It is part of a massive reorganization — the size of which has not been seen in news division president David Westin‘s 13 years at the helm.

Some of the changes take effect tomorrow. “World News with Diane Sawyer” and “Good Morning America,” which had separate weekday and weekend staffs, will now be one. The EP of Weekend GMA, Andrew Morse will now report to the weekday senior EP, Jim Murphy. Same goes for the “World News” production staff.

But this is just the beginning.

In the end, 300 to 400 jobs at ABC News will be gone.

TVNewser spoke with Westin not long after the changes were announced:

TVNewser: 300-400 is the number we’ve been reporting. Is there a way to break it down by show or by bureau or by job?

Westin: I’m not confirming that number. But it’s really substantial, larger than anything, in terms of reduction in the 13 years since I’ve been here. We need to see who volunteers and reconfigure the programs from there. This will be all parts of the organization.

TVNewser: What is your expectation of the number who volunteer vs. the layoffs that might be coming?

Westin: I truly don’t know. I’ve only really been involved in this once before. We did one in 2000 and 2001. I truly appreciate the exemption [from ABC parent Disney] that allows people to have control over this.

TVNewser: You wrote in your memo that the transformation will take place between now and the end of the year. But do you have a target date for the buyouts/layoffs to be complete?

Westin: The [program] gives people 30 days to volunteer [from the time they receive their letter]. And we reserve the right to say “no.” We will be judicious especially with people who are too valuable. Then we’ll see involuntary reductions sometime after that. The expectation is sometime in the next 60-70 days.

TVNewser: What would you say to critics who charge this “transformation” is a convenient way to get rid of experienced employees and bring in younger, cheaper talent?

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