Rupert Murdoch’s TalkTV Lost Over £88 Million In First Years Of Operation

Media tycoon Rupert Murdoch launched TalkTV in 2022 as the UK’s answer to Fox News. (Press Association via AP Images)

Media mogul Rupert Murdoch’s TalkTV already had incurred losses of over £88 million at the close of its first full year of broadcasting, accounts information reveals, nine months before the decision to shutter linear operations and go digital-only.

NewsUK accounts filed to Companies House on Monday reveal the extent to which TalkTV was haemorrhaging cash at after its first year in business. In the accounting year ending July 2023, the network reported operational losses of £53.7 million. This is added to losses of £34.1 million noted in the 2022 accounts, when TalkTV was only two months on the air, culminating in the channel’s opening two-year total loss of £88 million.

TalkTV was launched with the ambition of capturing the incendiary spirit of US-style punditry and bringing it to UK audiences, but the venture faced consistently low ratings and failed to compete with its Tory-rostered right-leaning rival GB News.

By mid 2023, rumours were already circulating that Murdoch was rounding to axe the project, which he denied at the time.

As the year wore on, only one of the network’s shows stood out as a success, Piers Morgan Uncensored. The latter half of 2023 saw host Piers Mogan’s online presence and following explode, especially following coverage of Hamas’ October 7th attacks and Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. Piers Morgan Uncensored’s YouTube channel grew to a global audience of 2.3 million subscribers, comfortably outgunning mainstream media giants like the BBC and Guardian on the platform.

So, it was unsurprising when, just weeks after Morgan announced his departure from the “straitjacket” of TalkTV to capitalise on his online success, backed by his partners at NewsUK, the channel shut down its broadcasting operations to focus on streaming and radio only.

In this humbling first chapter for TalkTV, NewsUK cited soaring programming costs and an ambitious expansion of prime time coverage as key factors in the financial growing pains. The channel, which saw its staffing nearly double in the opening two years, but now faces significant job cuts amid restructuring.

For now, senior executives at News UK said they are focused on “building infrastructure for the delivery of news and views via streamed and online video that will benefit the whole of its business.”

A year from now details for the accounting year ending July 2024 will show the final financial position up to the point when the broadcasting operation was axed.

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