According to one leading British media executive, only a deluded person would launch a new television news channel in the UK. The enormous costs of creating an outlet from scratch meant it was “not commercially viable” – and the future instead lay in streaming services rather than traditional live broadcast channels.
That person was Rebekah Brooks, the boss of Rupert Murdoch’s News UK, speaking in April 2021 as she abandoned her company’s broadcast television plans. Exactly a year later, after a rapid volte-face, she is overseeing next week’s launch of talkTV, a new national channel fronted by Piers Morgan that could define her time in charge of the company.
