TalkTV, the rightwing news channel launched by Rupert Murdoch’s News UK in 2022, is ceasing its television broadcast after struggling to compete with its main rival GB News for ratings.
Starting this summer, TalkTV will transition to online platforms only, as announced in an email to staff on Tuesday. Piers Morgan, the channel’s most well-known presenter, recently revealed that he would be leaving his daily evening show.
The channel initially failed to attract viewers during primetime broadcasts, with “zero viewers,” and has since struggled to gain traction, reaching only 2 million viewers in December 2023, compared to GB News’ 2.87 million and Sky News’ 8.5 million.
Despite GB News’ rising financial losses, the move is expected to benefit the rival network. GB News reported a pre-tax loss of £42.4m, up from £30.7m the previous year. The channel received £41m from its parent company, bringing its total debt to £83.8m.
Both TalkTV and GB News have faced scrutiny from the media regulator Ofcom over impartiality breaches by presenters. The decision to shift to online viewing was presented as a response to changing audience preferences, with TalkTV’s president of broadcasting, Scott Taunton, emphasizing the growing popularity of online news consumption.
Piers Morgan cited the unnecessary constraints of fixed TV schedules as the reason for his departure, opting to focus on his YouTube channel, Piers Morgan Uncensored. TalkTV currently has 812,000 YouTube subscribers.
The channel’s future will focus on livestreaming news and opinion content, distributed through platforms such as YouTube, Amazon Fire, Samsung, and LG, with continued radio broadcasting on DAB.
The launch schedule for its first day on 25 April 2022 included The News Desk with former political editor Tom Newton Dunn and Morgan’s Uncensored show.
2024-03-05 09:28:52
Original from www.theguardian.com