The Newsroom

New Discovery & Murdoch News Channels?

Prime Time Only Murdoch Channel - Page 12 (August 2020)

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BC
Blake Connolly Founding member
I imagine there's about as much truth in this as anything else Kelvin MacKensie has reported.
AN
another_beauty
In my eyes, Sky News certainly used to be leaning more to the right, and I considered the BBC to be more to the left, but only slightly in each case. Nothing like in America. These days it is not as clear, I certainly would not call either channel right wing, and Sky News does seem to be morphing into a bit of the Guardian TV channel, they have hired many well known left wing journalists for example. I do not suggest that means their output is bias. I don't think it is, but there is spin in everything in media.

There is certainly an opening for a "right wing" news channel in the UK. But it is never going to be a UK Fox News, we don't allow that sort of stuff here (CNN style etc included). But something along the lines of the "old" Sky News certainly would be something I would watch. I seldom watch Sky these days, more because of the changes more than the political leaning. I hope it won't be over the top though.
Last edited by another_beauty on 22 August 2020 4:48pm
JO
Jon
I imagine there's about as much truth in this as anything else Kelvin MacKensie has reported.
Although he does have strong links with Murdoch and presumably still with people inside Murdoch’s radio group. I suspect there is something in this claim, especially as there has been rumours of this kind of thing in the past.

The thing I can’t really see happening is the Discovery being involved in any major way.
JO
Jon
I’m sure his relationship with Rebecca Brooks isn’t going to stop him ever talking to people who he worked with at The Sun or the likes of James Whale or Alan Brazil, who he’d have worked closely during his time in charge of talkSPORT.
:-(
A former member
I think Times Radio would translate quite easily into a tv channel. I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before we see a Times / LBC / Talk Radio offshoot on TV.
NL
Ne1L C
This is a worrying piece of news. Not because of any bias but because of what such a channel could potentially lead to albeit indirectly. I'm sure that if there is such an outlet is created then it will be covered by OFCOM (it has to be to get on the air) but if a story occurs that causes an incredible amount of outrage then the coverage given by such a station could lead potentially to some form of backlash from the public.

What follows is a theoretical situation

An accident occurs where a child is killed in a car collision. The driver is arrested and is initially charged with causing death by dangerous driving. The subsequent court case results in a lenient sentence for the driver who is instantly released by the court having already served time.

GB News goes mad and starts not just going on about miscarriages of justice but repeating the name of the driver. Now someone having seen this and having an idea of where this person lives decides to impose their own kind of justice. Some harm comes to the driver and someone is arrested.

The person tells the police that they acted because they had been angered by the coverage that GB News had given to the story (possibly some commentator had been venting their spleen).

GB News is blamed for indirectly instigating mob justice. Questions are asked in the Commons and OFCOM strips GB News of it's licence.


It's too easy for such a thing to happen
PL
Plektrum
Part of me would be legitimately surprised if Murdoch wants to go through the headache of setting up or investing in a brand new U.K. news operation - and given the financial investment into news (and probable lack of meaningful margins) is it something Discovery would want to do when they appear to be pivoting into their lifestyle brands and their big OTT services like their BBC natural history collaboration.

I could see perhaps Times Radio setting up a live video stream or maybe someone pivoting into the kind of talk radio ‘tv’ that seems popular in the US and quite cheap to produce.
NL
Ne1L C
Its worth noting here that talksport briefly had a tv station on Sky:

Talksport TV launched in October 2004 platform broadcasting for six hours a day on the Sky Digital television platform aiming to catch listeners who've come home from work.[36] The service amounted to little more than the televisualisation of TalkSport's broadcasters and pundits presenting the station's Drive Time and Kick Off programmes. The channel closed in 2005 following the takeover of Talksport by UTV Radio.[37]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talksport#Other_media
JO
Jon
Yes, it wasn’t a fully fledged channel in that it didn’t have it own EPG position and shared with something else.

It was a time when talkSPORT still had non-sport phone ins at night and in the daytime but none of these made it on the TV channel (very often).

It was very similar to the output you see from talk and LBC now on social media, with a studio geared towards TV output and some presenters talking to the cameras and some not.
LL
London Lite Founding member
The tv operations of LBC and talkRADIO are pretty slick in comparison. LBC especially has their radio studio built to tv specs.

talkRADIO's on screen graphics are pretty good, even if I find the output questionable.
JO
Jon
I think pretty much all of talkRADIO’s daytime output is being streamed YouTube now with even the most of the interviews being conducted over video rather than just through a voice call.

Apologies for the inclusion Dan Wootton in this example.
JA
james-2001
Jon posted:
I’m surprised Discovery would want to be a part of this venture.


I imagine Discovery would want to be as assosiated with a channel like this as much in the same way Disney are scrubbing the Fox name out of everything at least partly because of the assosiation with Fox News.

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