TalkTV is Rupert Murdoch’s chance to seize the UK’s TV screens once again after he sold his stake in Sky in 2018.
He has already signed up big-name talent both on and off screen in Piers Morgan and several of his former Good Morning Britain colleagues.
Comparisons with GB News are already rife but it appears TalkTV is confident it can produce a better launch than its rival – which is led by Angelos Frangopoulos, who was until 2018 the boss at Murdoch’s Sky News Australia.
We have collated everything known so far about Murdoch’s planned TalkTV and will continue to update this page until, and beyond, its launch early in 2022.
[Read more: Piers Morgan returns to Sun with ‘shambles’ attack on Johnson starting three-year ‘£50m’ deal]
Latest updates include several major behind the scenes hires and Times Radio chief political commentator Tom Newton Dunn moving over to host a primetime weeknight show on TalkTV.
Job adverts have also indicated TalkTV is planning to air a satirical news programme that sounds similar to Have I Got News For You in style.
What is TalkTV?
The TalkTV channel will feature “proper” hourly news bulletins, sports and entertainment shows as well as current affairs, debate, opinion and documentaries, News UK has said.
It will use talent and programming from across News UK including the Sun, Times, Sunday Times, Times Radio, Talkradio, Talksport and Virgin Radio to air a mixture of new shows and televised content from these brands.
News UK chief executive Rebekah Brooks said: “We are committed to providing choice for television and streaming viewers and bringing the best of our journalism to the screen.
“Taking advantage of modern technology, we can produce high-quality shows at low cost.”
Who are the TalkTV presenters?
News UK said it would hire “exceptional new talent” to front its evening primetime programming.
It has already made a huge deal with Piers Morgan which will see him host a primetime weeknight show on TalkTV as well as Murdoch stablemates Fox Nation in the US and Sky News Australia. He will also write columns for The Sun and New York Post, host true crime documentaries, and publish his next book through Murdoch’s HarperCollins.
[Read more: Piers Morgan signs global deal with Rupert Murdoch ahead of News UK TV channel launch]
Morgan said: “I want my global show to be a fearless forum for lively debate and agenda-setting interviews, and a place that celebrates the right of everyone to have an opinion, and for those opinions to be vigorously examined and challenged.”
Murdoch added: “Piers is the broadcaster every channel wants but is too afraid to hire. Piers is a brilliant presenter, a talented journalist and says what people are thinking and feeling.”
Times Radio chief political commentator and former Sun political editor Tom Newton Dunn will host a nightly hour-long prime time news programme on Mondays to Fridays, featuring interviews and a discussion panel. It will air ahead of Morgan’s show.
News UK promised Newton Dunn’s show will be “straight and balanced, with views and guests across the political spectrum” and will use specialist journalists from across its brands, for example the Times politics and Sun showbiz teams.
Newton Dunn, who will also executive edit the new programme, has stepped down from his Times Radio role which he left The Sun to take on in 2020. He will however continue to co-host the Sunday morning politics show T&G until TalkTV’s launch and will continue to appear on the radio station.
He said: “I’ve been incredibly lucky to play a part in major new media innovations, from the birth of Sun Online to most recently Times Radio, which has reset the dial on what quality news radio can achieve, and I’m pleased to be still playing a part on the station.
“The chance to be at the helm of a new primetime news programme on an innovative new TV channel though really is a career dream come true. We want to bring viewers high quality news in a fresh and different way that best serves them. We can’t wait to start.”
Who are the TalkTV producers?
Several former GMB colleagues of Morgan, who said he wants only “the very best”, have been hired to work at TalkTV so far.
Winnie Dunbar Nelson, who worked with Morgan for almost ten years at Good Morning Britain and CNN, has been named executive editor, TV for News UK Broadcasting. She had left GMB in early 2020 to join NBC but the pair are now reunited.
Another GMB colleague joining Morgan’s team is its launch and series director Erron Gordon, who has been hired as executive creative director and head of studio output for News UK Broadcasting.
Reporting to Dunbar Nelson, Gordon will be series director for Morgan’s show alongside his role leading the creative direction of TalkTV’s programming and channel branding, including set design, on-screen graphics and managing the studio teams.
Gordon said: “There are very few occasions in your career when you get to create something entirely new. TalkTV is one of those opportunities. I’m truly excited about what News UK wants to achieve with the station – and, of course, the opportunity to reunite with Piers on his new global show was impossible to resist.”
Gordon’s deputy will be Oliver Gardner, joining from ITV where he is currently director of Loose Women and previously a GMB director.
News UK said Gardner will assist in the creative direction of programming and channel branding including set design, on-screen graphics and sonic branding, as well as help manage studio teams and direct primetime programmes.
Gordon said: “Having worked with him in the past I know he’ll bring his excellent attention to detail and creative flare to our output. Ollie is passionate about live television and is the perfect choice to be directing our programmes and helping manage the studio crew as we continue to build a great team of talented creatives and technicians.”
Ben Briscoe, currently assistant editor at GMB of six years, has been named as series editor of Morgan’s show.
Briscoe, who has worked at ITV for 16 years, said: “Piers Morgan is a unique talent in global broadcasting. It’s both a privilege and a delight to be working with him again on this hugely exciting new international show.”
Another former GMB senior producer, Caitlin Black, has been appointed as series editor on Newton Dunn’s primetime programme.
In addition Vivek Sharma, series editor of Steph’s Packed Lunch on Channel 4 and a former deputy editor of ITV’s This Morning, has been named as executive producer at News UK Broadcasting with responsibility for TalkTV’s output.
Sharma, who has also previously worked at Good Morning Britain, said: “News UK has a rich heritage of world-class journalism. The launch of TalkTV next year will create an important new voice in news and current affairs, delivered across a network of linear and non-linear platforms, and I’m delighted to be joining the team.”
How can I watch TalkTV?
TalkTV will be available from early 2022 over linear TV, as well as online streaming platforms and News UK’s own websites and apps.
News UK has already soft-launched Talkradio TV on connected TV platforms Samsung TV Plus, Apple TV, Rakuten, Samsung TV Plus, Roku, YouTube and on Amazon Fire TV, streaming live through its own app.
TalkTV jobs
News UK is currently advertising for around 20 roles, including several for a Have I Got News For You-style satirical panel show.
Others include a planning producer for a nightly debate show to feature a “headline-making” panel of topical guests, a scriptwriter, producers, and a senior planning producer for Morgan’s show, and numerous specialist and technical roles behind the scenes.
Roles to have already closed included a head of production, series editor, producer, assistant producer, video editor, and social media producer to work on Morgan’s programme, plus bookers.
[Read more: News UK planning HIGNFY-style satirical news panel TV show]
Where will TalkTV be based?
TalkTV will be based at News UK’s London Bridge office, known as The News Building and formerly the Baby Shard. It has been confirmed that Morgan’s show will be filmed here.
News UK has already invested in new TV studios at the site, which are being used for live news bulletins for Talkradio and other ways of visualising its brands.
Who is behind TalkTV?
According to the FT, Murdoch was unhappy with the TV channels on offer in the UK during the Covid-19 lockdown and so decided to launch his own.
Murdoch has a lot of experience with TV, owning Fox News in the US, Sky News in Australia and, until 2018, controlling Sky in the UK for three decades.
Will TalkTV be right-wing?
The exact tone and content of TalkTV has not yet been revealed but the channel is expected to offer a similar political slant to The Sun and Talkradio.
TalkTV will use televised content from across News UK’s existing brands and News UK Broadcasting chief executive Scott Taunton said the company already has “some of the most articulate thought-leaders who reflect many different viewpoints”.
Will TalkTV make money?
Despite plans brewing at News UK to launch a linear TV channel for over a year, it briefly decided to make it streaming only after a review of opportunities in the TV market deemed it to be “not commercially viable”.
Brooks said in a staff memo there was demand for alternative news provision but the “considerable” costs of running a channel meant it would not be worthwhile financially. However the company has now changed its tune.
Rob Keery of marketing agency AIP told Press Gazette: “TV has also never been more accessible than it is now thanks to technology advances,” citing a move towards programmatic advertising that has opened TV up to companies with lower budgets.
“In spite of the pandemic there were over 850 advertisers that spent £50k or less on TV in 2020 – these sorts of budgets would have been unheard of in the past,” he added. “It means that brands who wouldn’t have dreamed of advertising on TV can suddenly level up and find their audience on the biggest screen in the house for minimal outlay.”
He also said TalkTV will “give brands who hesitated to direct ad spend towards GB News a safer home for their ads to appear”.
Media analyst Doug McCabe of Enders Analysis said TalkTV will benefit from being part of a much bigger portfolio, including beyond the UK, compared to GB News.
Picture: News Corp
The post TalkTV in-depth briefing: Tom Newton Dunn leaves Times Radio to host primetime slot ahead of Piers Morgan appeared first on Press Gazette.