Launch TalkTV

[Ash101]

I know TalkTV and TalkRadio have their own apps, but I think it's a glaring omission to not have the radio option on the TV app. It'd make it easier if you're out but can't watch the video to have to option to simply stream the radio station instead.

While a lot of the tv output has been of a fixed camera on the radio presenter behind the mic, I've been impressed with the use of video clips during the simulcast.

Not managed to watch anything since a small slice of JHB. Is it clips of Piers' interview or other stuff too?

[willyninetyfour]

I'm obviously far less knowledgeable on this matter than most here, but here's my amateur opinion.

I think TalkTV will last a lot longer than GB News and will breakthrough in terms of actual relevance to the news discourse. It looks far more professional and that will only improve over time as the crew and on-screen talent adjust to the new channel and they iron out any teething problems. I know that looks aren't everything and a lot of people don't care a great deal but it does lend a much greater sense of credibility and audiences don't like their patience being tested by dysfunctional cameras or microphones not being switched on.

Fundamentally though having Murdoch's money and drive will really help TalkTV. He is the expert at making something like this have staying power, and he has the full resources of News UK, with some of the country's top journalists and experts in the field, which can attract big name interviews and guests, whether those big news are consistently in the news or people who come to the country's attention because of a particular incident. If you're important enough to be interviewed by the Sun or the Times, chances are they'll want you on TalkTV as well, and the channel might be able to grap you before the main broadcasters.

One thing I think would help the channel's long-term survival is to not lean too heavily into the "woke cancel culture snowflakes free speech (but only if I agree with you)" aspect. The channel will certainly slant to the right, but having a sprinkling of the more tabloid Sun style with an overall more "mainstream", middle-ground approach you tend to find from the Times (not so much its column section but still) will allow the channel to become credible and worth paying attention to, rather than GB News which has really gone down a conspiratorial route which will only ever appeal to a certain demographic. 

The idea that TalkTV can supplant the BBC or ITV though, it's unlikely. They might be able to beat them in the ratings for particular programmes, such as Piers Morgan, but whenever there's the next major breaking news story (not to be morbid but something like a major terrorist attack or the Queen's death) people will go to the BBC or ITV because it's normal for people to watch them over anyone else, except maybe Sky. People know that they are the channels you go to for breaking news when you just want to know the facts of what's happened/happening. People who want a particular slant of opinion will then pivot over to TalkTV.

[XIII]

I think TalkTV should try and get Boris Johnson for Piers Morgan Uncensored, not for a live interview but for a sit down interview. Piers in a calm and collected manner would be able to get more out of Boris than if it was live and he's angry.

[Jon]

The issue is Boris would have nothing to gain from it. If it’s a boring interview it’ll get little media attention, if Piers is ripping him shreds it’ll be everywhere.

I think any interview with Tom Newton-Dunn is probably far more likely.

[XIII]

The issue is Boris would have nothing to gain from it. If it’s a boring interview it’ll get little media attention, if Piers is ripping him shreds it’ll be everywhere.

I think any interview with Tom Newton-Dunn is probably far more likely.

Boris did do an interview for Times Radio when that first launched so it's not something can be ruled out happening on TalkTV but I agree that Tom Newton-Dunn would be more likely.

[Brekkie]

I'd argue though the "woke era" is actually created by the anti-woke. The PC era was just people generally being more considerate of each other.


What frustrates me most about the image the titles give the show is firstly most of them are just empty catchphrases designed to engage with the so called "anti-woke", at the expense of those who might engage with the show otherwise - and secondly I don't think Piers is firmly in any of those camps anyway, except of course when he is being paid to be by his paymasters at the Mail and now at News UK. As others have said he was very good on GMB in the early stages of the pandemic of taking no nonsense from the government over the numerous covid failings and of course in the US he made his name to an extent with his anti-gun rhetoric, something I suspect many of the NRA faithful would define as pretty woke.

Now personality wise Piers has always been a marmite character, with the exception that some people like marmite, but politically in the past he's been a far more liberal voice and now it feels like he's moulding himself in a Farage-esque direction both for the paycheque and to play to a certain audience. And as it comes across as someone who has his values for hire he lacks the authenticity required for a personality led show IMO.

[London Lite]

I know TalkTV and TalkRadio have their own apps, but I think it's a glaring omission to not have the radio option on the TV app. It'd make it easier if you're out but can't watch the video to have to option to simply stream the radio station instead.

While a lot of the tv output has been of a fixed camera on the radio presenter behind the mic, I've been impressed with the use of video clips during the simulcast.

Not managed to watch anything since a small slice of JHB. Is it clips of Piers' interview or other stuff too?

At the start of the 2pm hour of Ian Collins show they showed clips of interviews on the station, Lindsay Hoyle's statement from yesterday and a bodycam clip credited to the Sun of someone being arrested to illustrate their phone-in topic about violent crime.

[XIII]

I'd argue though the "woke era" is actually created by the anti-woke.  The PC era was just people generally being more considerate of each other.


What frustrates me most about the image the titles give the show is firstly most of them are just empty catchphrases designed to engage with the so called "anti-woke", at the expense of those who might engage with the show otherwise - and secondly I don't think Piers is firmly in any of those camps anyway, except of course when he is being paid to be by his paymasters at the Mail and now at News UK.    As others have said he was very good on GMB in the early stages of the pandemic of taking no nonsense from the government over the numerous covid failings and of course in the US he made his name to an extent with his anti-gun rhetoric, something I suspect many of the NRA faithful would define as pretty woke.

Now personality wise Piers has always been a marmite character, with the exception that some people like marmite, but politically in the past he's been a far more liberal voice and now it feels like he's moulding himself in a Farage-esque direction both for the paycheque and to play to a certain audience.  And as it comes across as someone who has his values for hire he lacks the authenticity required for a personality led show IMO.

I've always thought Piers doesn't take himself too seriously. Things like vegan sausage rolls and lady Doritos are silly trivial things to get work up and his co hosts on GMB would roll their eyes at it, he even mocked himself for being not exactly being healthy but things like Meghan Markle who he clearly needs to get over because it's boring to be holding a grudge against her after so many years. 

What I admire about Piers is he is able to tackle serious subjects like the Government's handling of the pandemic or the aftermath of a terrorist attack like the Manchester Bombings or the Capitol Riots where he drops the 'the world gone nuts' persona and I wish we see more of that Piers and not the one that's is essentially a caricature.

[derek500j]

https://twitter.com/tomhfh/status/151891...zzJHQ&s=19

[Omnipresent]

And here is the News UK spin on the first evening's viewing figures:

https://www.news.co.uk/2022/04/piers-mor...-combined/

- A total of 588,000 viewers tuned in on linear TV platforms for Piers Morgan Uncensored

- TalkTV was the most-watched news channel across its three hours of peak primetime programming

- Highest ABC1 audience profile across news channels between 7-10pm

Piers Morgan Uncensored drew more average viewers (317k) than all other news channels combined in its debut on TalkTV between 8 and 9pm last night. 

Including the repeat at 11pm, a total of 588k viewers tuned in on linear TV platforms to watch the show’s debut, which included the first part of the exclusive interview with former President Donald Trump. Talk TV reached 809,000 people on TV on its launch night.

TalkTV was also the most-watched of all news channels across its prime time schedule, which saw The News Desk with Tom Newton Dunn launch the channel at 7pm, followed by Piers Morgan Uncensored at 8pm and The Talk, featuring Sharon Osbourne and Jeremy Kyle at 9pm. Between 7pm and 10pm, TalkTV gained a share of 0.94%, beating BBC News (0.88%), Sky News (0.64%) and GB News (0.38%) and making TalkTV the most watched news channel. Piers Morgan Uncensored at 8pm gained a 2% share.

The channel performed well with valuable ABC1 viewers. 62% of viewers watching between 7-10 pm were ABC1, a higher percentage than any other news channel.

[TMD_24]

The issue is Boris would have nothing to gain from it. If it’s a boring interview it’ll get little media attention, if Piers is ripping him shreds it’ll be everywhere.

I think any interview with Tom Newton-Dunn is probably far more likely.

Tom Newton-Dunn is interviewing the Prime Minister tonight on The News Desk based on the promo just aired after 3pm.

[Medianext.MX]

In typical Murdoch fashion, its very slick. I have to say.  Everyone commented on the graphics being very American. Thats because they likely are. The graphics to me, especially the lower third, llive bug, live sweeps....they all look like they were actually created at Fox News Creative Services in NYC.  It cant be sheer coincidence. They are strikingly similar to FNC,WEATHER, BUSINESS.  Why not use Fox News Creative Services. Its a cheaper alternative than outsourcing another company to do it. They already have the employees and they completely relaunched FNC/Business graphics a few years ago and they just completed the look for FoxWeather. All of their programmes have different graphic looks and they switch them up frequently, so coming up with a look for a channel thats going to use the same look across the network, probably wasnt a huge deal or a great workload. Makes sense to use Fox News Creative services to do Talktv. But remember JUMP did their branding and likely had something to do with the full motion graphic opens and idents. But to me the on-screen furniture all look FNC Graphics from FN Creative Services.

Also the SWOOSH noise that you hear, thats the same noise is on pretty much all FNC programming. But I LOVE LOVE LOVE the themes. Piers's opening graphics, made me roll my eyes. 

I think you're absolutely right. NewscastStudio has published a gallery of the full graphics, and clearly Fox News Creative Services (as Fox Media Production Group) is stated as one of the designers (alongside Jump), which makes sense given the style of the graphics.

- - -

Personally, I find TalkTV really professional and goodly throughout produced in contrast to GB News. Erron Gordon did a great job working on the channel's presentation (content is other story we clearly know) and the sheer amount of work done with virtual and real sets, graphics, music and promotion is certainly worth for. It even looks much more polished visually than Fox News (which we know it has some tacky graphics, but it works for the kind of channel it is), and certainly the people over in the States will try to polish more their presentation after seeing how TalkTV is working. They even adopted the Fox News presentation philosophy of going entirely OTT and making the presentation as exciting as the content.

In the regards of the livestream, I think they were tinkering a bit with the stream yesterday: not geoblocked during The News Desk, totally geoblocked during Piers, again not geoblocked during the rest of the night...; but they finally settled in making the stream geoblocked in other nations where Murdoch has TV presence (as @London Lite mentioned earlier in the thread). I don't think they will resort to geoblocking Piers other than in these five nations, given the show is also airing in Sky News Australia and Fox Nation, and certainly Murdoch wants the outlet to be available to as much foreign audience as he can (specially with the situation of the Piers show).

[Jon]

I wouldn’t be surprised if Fox are just credited because it’s heavily based on their package. But I think this looks a lot cleaner and more impressive and also you can see the GMB influence on how clock works with the logo.

I think I prefer the longer form conversation of Talk over the short conversations of GB News. Just seems more worthwhile. I think Headliners is probably one of the only programmes you get that with GB News. And I think it’s also the sort of stuff that will work better in podcasts and watching back on YouTube.

[Brekkie]

I know TalkTV and TalkRadio have their own apps, but I think it's a glaring omission to not have the radio option on the TV app.  It'd make it easier if you're out but can't watch the video to have to option to simply stream the radio station instead.

While a lot of the tv output has been of a fixed camera on the radio presenter behind the mic, I've been impressed with the use of video clips during the simulcast.

Not managed to watch anything since a small slice of JHB. Is it clips of Piers' interview or other stuff too?

At the start of the 2pm hour of Ian Collins show they showed clips of interviews on the station, Lindsay Hoyle's statement from yesterday and a bodycam clip credited to the Sun of someone being arrested to illustrate their phone-in topic about violent crime.

Are the news bulletins the same on TV as radio?

[London Lite]

I know TalkTV and TalkRadio have their own apps, but I think it's a glaring omission to not have the radio option on the TV app.  It'd make it easier if you're out but can't watch the video to have to option to simply stream the radio station instead.

While a lot of the tv output has been of a fixed camera on the radio presenter behind the mic, I've been impressed with the use of video clips during the simulcast.

Not managed to watch anything since a small slice of JHB. Is it clips of Piers' interview or other stuff too?

At the start of the 2pm hour of Ian Collins show they showed clips of interviews on the station, Lindsay Hoyle's statement from yesterday and a bodycam clip credited to the Sun of someone being arrested to illustrate their phone-in topic about violent crime.

Are the news bulletins the same on TV as radio?

No, they have separate bulletins. When they operated talkRADIO TV, they already had bulletin readers in the green screen studio.