Guardian wrote:Rupert Murdoch uses London visit to try to boost ratings at talkTV
Effort to revive fortunes of Piers Morgan-fronted rightwing channel include appointing new boss and expected relaunch
Rupert Murdoch’s talkTV has been struggling to attract an audience for its culture-war output. But staff at the channel are now worried that they have recently gained one particular viewer: Murdoch himself, who has arrived in London and is taking an active interest in his station’s fate.
The media mogul has invested tens of millions of pounds in talkTV, but after just two months on air, there are fears it could become a costly disaster unless he makes a rapid intervention, with official viewing figures dipping to zero at some points during evening broadcasts.
On Wednesday, the company appointed former Daily Mirror editor Richard Wallace as the channel’s boss ahead of an expected relaunch, which followed a senior behind-the-scenes executive quitting last week and Fox News staff being deputised to help sharpen up the channel.
The company has plastered presenter Piers Morgan’s face on billboards across the country, but his monologues and rants about woke culture – including an attempt to skewer rail union boss Mick Lynch for using a Thunderbirds baddie as his Facebook profile picture – have so far failed to resonate with audiences.
On Monday night (June 20 2022), the flagship Piers Morgan Uncensored attracted just 64,000 viewers. Programmes that beat him in the same time slot included a documentary about the water around Alcatraz on the National Geographic channel and a repeat of 1970s sitcom The Good Life on Gold.
According to sources at talkTV, Morgan has suggested Murdoch should make a blowout bid to hire his former Good Morning Britain colleague Susanna Reid for talkTV. Reid’s agent did not deny that discussions had taken place, but declined to comment further. There is no indication that Reid is poised to leave the ITV breakfast show, although she has been off air in recent days.
Other talkTV programmes are faring worse, with just 7,000 people watching former Sun political editor Tom Newton-Dunn’s 7pm news show.
More embarrassingly, Morgan is being consistently thrashed in the ratings by ex-Ukip leader Nigel Farage on GB News. The rival rightwing channels are fighting over the same relatively small pool of viewers, but so far it looks as though GB News – despite its own disastrous launch – is consistently coming out on top by appealing to a small core British audience rather than aiming for wider appeal.
Both outlets are reportedly currently financially unsustainable, with questions over their long-term future. GB News secured funding from a range of overseas investors for its first three years, but one major shareholder, US media company Discovery, is now understood to be looking to exit.
As a result, the company needs new shareholders willing to suck up the cost of running a loss-making, ad-funded channel with a recession looming. Sources at GB News said both its HR director and commercial director have left in recent weeks.
...in a bid to revive viewing figures, talkTV has increasingly starting splashing the cash on guests. One leftwing journalist was begged to come on air to be grilled by Morgan; the talkTV guest booker made ever increasing offers, which could in the end have earned the individual thousands of pounds for a few minutes’ work. The person declined.
Mid-level celebrities and people briefly in the public eye have been delighted to earn over £10,000 for appearing on Morgan’s show.
Full article:
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2022/ ... -at-talktvWow, the amount of money TalkTV must be burning through for so few viewers is absolutely phenomenal. I noticed on Sunday they were running a new batch of commercials (once again featuring Piers) on ITV in prime-time.
In regards to GB News, I had a feeling all signs were pointing to Warner Bros. Discovery having no time for this gooseberry fool.
