Rupert Murdoch’s TalkTV to close terrestrial channel

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TalkTV, the channel launched by Rupert Murdoch’s News UK in a bid to challenge Sky and the BBC, will give up broadcasting as a terrestrial television station and shift programmes online.

News UK has started a restructuring of the division, with TalkTV’s London studios being repurposed to provide video content for the wider News UK set of titles including the Sun, the Times, Talksport and Virgin Radio, according to an internal memo seen by the Financial Times.

All video content will be created for online audiences and distributed through News UK’s websites and apps as well as on streaming and social platforms such as YouTube and TikTok. News UK is expected to cut jobs as a result of the move and has started a consultation with staff, according to a person familiar with the situation.

The decision will mark an embarrassing retreat from terrestrial TV for Murdoch, one of the pioneers of modern broadcasting in the UK as the founder of Sky in the 1980s. Media analysts saw TalkTV as his attempt to recreate a national news channel to compete with Sky, which he sold out of in 2018.

However, TalkTV has struggled with viewers and has slipped behind rivals including Paul Marshall’s GB News, which launched just months before in 2021. There have in the past been discussions about merging TalkTV with GB News, according to people familiar with the matter.

TalkTV has failed to gain much traction in a crowded market for opinion-based shows in the UK, while many viewers for such programmes are now watching rightwing commentators such as former Fox star broadcaster Tucker Carlson on their own online shows.

The channel’s best-rated presenter, Piers Morgan, said last month that he would only post his Uncensored show on the YouTube channels owned by News UK, a subsidiary of the Murdoch family’s News Corp. He described having a linear TV show as an “unnecessary straitjacket”.

Lachlan Murdoch, who took over heading the business from his 92-year-old father last year, is also seen as far more interested in taking the company into fast-growing digital channels rather than supporting a lossmaking legacy media arm, according to company insiders.

A memo from Scott Taunton, News UK’s president of broadcasting, to staff on Tuesday said “news consumption is shifting online”.

He added: “Two years ago, we would not have been brave enough to launch a channel without a linear presence, but audiences of all ages have moved fast and smartphones are now the primary device where news is consumed. We are therefore intending that Talk comes off linear television from early summer and our focus will be on streaming.”

Terrestrial TV had been good for marketing and awareness for the group, he added, but “linear channel slots cost us millions a year and the advertising revenues are never going to materially exceed the cost of being in these distribution slots, while data-led digital advertising and CTV is in growth”.

News UK will continue running TalkTV as a live streaming channel for news and opinion, using YouTube and Amazon Fire, as well as via the smart TV sets of Samsung and LG. A new division, News Studios, will provide content to all news brands.

News UK declined to comment.