Rupert Murdoch pulls Fox News-style channel off the air in UK after failing to build an audience
Source: CNN Business
Published 2:19 PM EST, Tue March 5, 202
New York CNN — Rupert Murdoch is pulling the plug on the television broadcast of his right-wing UK outlet TalkTV, a blow to the media mogul who launched the opinion-focused venture just two years ago with an aim of replicating the success of Fox News in the UK. In a memo to staff on Tuesday obtained by CNN, Scott Taunton, TalkTV’s president of broadcasting, said that the network will shutter its linear television broadcast in the summer and move to an online-only operation, focusing on streaming platforms.
“While linear TV has been a good marketing and awareness window for Talk, we now need to focus our investment on where the eyeballs are and where the revenues are in growth. In order to be successful, we need to prioritise being where the audiences are, rather than asking them to come to find us down the channel guide,” he said.
After building a global newspaper empire and witnessing the ratings and profits success of the right-wing Fox News Channel in the US, Murdoch sought to break into the UK television business, replicating the opinion-driven talk format. But the outlet, which launched in 2022 with a roster of high-profile hosts, struggled to build an audience, failing to rival established centrist news outlets like the BBC and Sky News.
“A large proportion of our live viewing is already through streaming on televisions and we intend to continue to grow this. Clips will continue to be shared through social media,” Taunton said. “There is no doubt over Talk’s future as an audio and video channel, it just won’t be distributed on linear.”
Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/05/media/rupert-murdoch-talktv-off-air-uk/index.html
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