Tuning out GB News won its tussle with TalkTV - but both face uncertain future

In April 2021, the boss of the Murdoch-owned News UK, Rebekah Brooks, wrote in an internal letter that "it was not commercially viable" to launch a traditional news channel.

- Alexandra Topping

Then, in April 2022, the company launched TalkTV.

As it closed and moved online yesterday, after a reported loss of at least £90m since it launched, those backing its main rival, GB News, may look on the TV channel's demise with glee. But experts argue that the move marks a moment of reckoning for the broadcasting upstarts and the future of both hangs in the balance.

TalkTV has promised "a refreshed lineup of no-nonsense presenters at the home of common sense" on YouTube, connected TVs and via the TalkTV website and app. But its spring schedule does not include Piers Morgan, who announced in February he was leaving his daily evening show to focus on the Piers Morgan Uncensored YouTube channel. It will also be without Vanessa Feltz, who will be replaced by Jeremy Kyle or Sharon Osbourne, who has not been on screen since the end of September.

The move to digital only was billed as a bold leap into the future when it was revealed last month. "Two years ago, we would not have been brave enough to launch a channel without a linear presence," said TalkTV's president of broadcasting, Scott Taunton, in an email to staff.

But for others it marks a failure a move from a slickly produced TV channel to something more akin to a radio station video feed.