Murdoch Cancels his New Channel

[London Lite]

All the focus has been on GBN I am not surprised in this.

I think News UK were simply too late to the party. GBN were able to get backing from not only Brexit supporting millionaires, but also from Liberty Global and Discovery, two media groups who give it some credibility. Alas with Andrew Neil as Chairman, it's enabled them to hire talent from a broad section, from Simon McCoy, Colin Brazier and Kirsty Gallacher, journalists with a pedigree of tv presenting impartially to the likes of Alexandra Phillips and Michelle Dewberry who'll bring opinion to the channel with some experience of working in tv.

[Stuart]

For months we've had a constant drip-feed of stories about GB News wandering the country hoovering-up journalists and presenters.

There had been barely a whisper about News UK, so frankly, this announcement of it being cancelled is not that surprising. I wonder what they'll do with the studio spaces they've constructed.

[London Lite]

With Scott Taunton from Wireless also now in charge of the tv element, this basically gives Wireless charge of the new programming for the newspaper brands.

It's worth noting that potential off-air staff for the News UK tv shows were also grabbed by GB News, the likes of Marta Malagon who produced some of the opinionated output on talkRADIO who are experienced in producing the type of stuff I think GB will be looking for.

[Ash101]

There had been barely a whisper about News UK, so frankly, this announcement of it being cancelled is not that surprising. I wonder what they'll do with the studio spaces they've constructed.

I am unsure if this is brand new studio space or repurposed. Wasn't there a Sky News show during the day which name from The News Building?

They also did a HQ Trivia style quiz app about 2 years ago & had studio space for that at the time. I am sure whatever they've got studio wise will be repurposed for whatever video they plan to do going forward...

[James Martin]

It's a shame as there was definitely a market for it. I guess the dream would have been for GB News and News UK to join forces, the former having the talent but the latter having very deep pockets in order to sustain it in early life. However, on the flip side with GB News launching on its own it won't "confuse" the market.

TalkRadio could definitely be punching higher - it's arguably got access to more resources than LBC does. LBC is, without a doubt, the real success story of Global Radio. However, LBC's only real advantage on paper is the fact it has FM in London, and I'm not convinced that's such a big deal when both stations are nationwide on DAB. I mean, they could apply to stick it on their AM transmitters instead of TalkSport, something Ofcom would simply wave through, but would it make a fat lot of difference?

Who remembers the short-lived Sun Talk station around 2009-2010, which was basically a three hour programme presented by Jon Gaunt, but carried on a lot of Spanish expat stations like Spectrum FM?

I don't think we'll see TalkRadio morph into a Sun-branded station, because The Sun as a brand comes with, well, baggage. The Times being what my Dad used to call "a proper paper" doesn't have that issue. In any case you've got the potential conflict of the fact the papers will be staunchly partisan, which you're still not allowed to do on radio or TV. You're going to run into trouble if you've got a radio station trying to be impartial and balanced when the paper of the same name is telling you who to vote for and sticking the boot firmly into the other lot.

[London Lite]

Who remembers the short-lived Sun Talk station around 2009-2010, which was basically a three hour programme presented by Jon Gaunt, but carried on a lot of Spanish expat stations like Spectrum FM?

Sun Talk also had Martel Maxwell from Homes Under the Hammer fame who was more left leaning taking calls from Sun readers. It sounded a lot more extreme that talkRADIO is currently, but they weren't under Ofcom regulations being online only.

[Markymark]

There had been barely a whisper about News UK, so frankly, this announcement of it being cancelled is not that surprising. I wonder what they'll do with the studio spaces they've constructed.

I am unsure if this is brand new studio space or repurposed. Wasn't there a Sky News show during the day which name from The News Building?

They've had TV studios in the so called Mini Shard' since around 2014, that were built originally to provide on line video content for their newspapers. I suspect they were going to enhance/upgrade these for the TV channel?

[valley]

There had been barely a whisper about News UK, so frankly, this announcement of it being cancelled is not that surprising. I wonder what they'll do with the studio spaces they've constructed.

I am unsure if this is brand new studio space or repurposed. Wasn't there a Sky News show during the day which name from The News Building?

Ian King Live used to come from the Baby Shard until 2019(?) before moving to be with CNBC.
That studio was hardly a studio and more a converted meeting room I gather, with a very low lighting rig.

[AllWillBeWell]

It's a shame as there was definitely a market for it.

I doubt enough for two stations, it would have been BSB and Sky all over again. Both eating each other and in the end in a despite bid to survive joining together. But I can't see why they would take the risk before even launching, they could surely see they didn't have a chance now.

[Inspector Sands]

I'm not sure there's even the market for one new news channel, the existing ones don't exactly set the world alight ratings wise.

However they are being funded by very rich people trying to promote their agenda, so does there have to be a market for them, they're vanity products? The same goes for the likes of RT, AJ, TRT etc.

The small audience that actually wants to feast on a diet of right wing bubble and culture war stirring are already doing it elsewhere, and from much more established sources, there's no shortage of what they offer online. It just depends how compelling and different GB News will be, they'll have to create their market

[AllWillBeWell]

I'm not sure there's even the market for one new news channel, the existing ones don't exactly set the world alight ratings wise.

However they are being funded by very rich people trying to promote their agenda, so does there have to be a market for them, they're vanity products? The same goes for the likes of RT, AJ, TRT etc.

The small audience that actually wants to feast on a diet of right wing bubble and culture war stirring are already doing it elsewhere, and from much more established sources, there's no shortage of what they offer online. It just depends how compelling and different GB News will be, they'll have to create their market

We don't really know that yet, but It looks more to be a LBC type setup, with Farage on one hour, and O'Brien on the next. The majority of content may be to the right. I don't see a problem if it is right wing, right wing people exist just like any other group and there is a market there to get their views and advertising profits. Just like any other channel. We won't be forced to watch. If it gets silly it will fail, if it is good quality content and not over the top, it will do well. I don't understand the fear over this channel. It will be regulated, it cannot be what American news channels are.

Every channel and every piece of content that exists currently and will be produced, is created by rich people with an agenda. We should be under no illusion about that. Of course it is done within regulation. Perhaps only the publicly funded content could be excluded. But everything else, wants to hook you in and it is very good at doing it. This channel will be no different.

[BettyS]

I still struggle to see how GBNews is going to financially exist for long. There is so little money available to fund this kind of ongoing operation. At least Digger is giving in before causing more hassle.

[Omnipresent]

Say what you like about Rupert Murdoch, but he knows when to pick his battles.

I wonder how many presenters declined an offer from GB News to hold out for what News UK would do.

[Inspector Sands]

I still struggle to see how GBNews is going to financially exist for long. There is so little money available to fund this kind of ongoing operation. At least Digger is giving in before causing more hassle.

It depends how long the backers can hold out for if it doesn't work, the main person behind GBN has reasonably deep pockets (not as deep as Murdoch's of course) so it depends how long the corporate backers give it. There are some ventures that have been funded for a long time before a profit is made, though this isn't a new media venture its old media!

TV channels that have actual content on them (as opposed to cheap imports or bought in programmes) are very expensive to run, unless there's another source of income like shopping. News channels especially so, as I said above they're all parts of bigger institutions or funded as vanity projects.

I think out of the two a NewsUK channel would have worked better as it's not independent and has synergies to papers and radio. GB News doesn't have that, it's independent and so it'll be interesting to see how it goes.

There's a bit of a history of big launches where money is splashed at the start and then suddenly a few months in the money dries up, or new management is brought in and replaces everyone

[BettyS]

I suppose Murdoch could try and buy it ( or major shareholder ) once up and running ( or failing )