TALK TV TO CLOSE AS LINEAR TV CHANNEL

Talk TV, the current affairs discussion channel owned by News UK and Rupert Murdoch, is set to close as a linear TV channel this Summer and broadcast online and radio exclusively.

In an email to staff today, obtained by Guido Fawkes, News UK stated: "Talk will continue broadcasting as a live streaming news and opinion channel, distributing through streaming platforms to include YouTube, Amazon Fire, Samsung, LG and others. A large proportion of our live viewing is already through streaming on televisions and we intend to continue to grow this...

"Clips will continue to be shared through social media. There is no doubt over Talk’s future as an audio and video channel, it just won’t be distributed on linear. Radio on DAB continues unchanged too, where most recently RAJAR recorded us reaching 725k listeners."

Last month, Piers Morgan announced he was stepping away from Talk TV, in what turned out to be his final programme for the channel on Thursday 8th February, to instead continue his Uncensored programme exclusively on YouTube, where he has over 2.3 million subscribers.

Last month TV Zone reported that there were two rebrand options being considered. Rebranding to simply 'TALK' whereby programmes are produced for radio, with selected programmes being streamed on YouTube and other social media platforms. A second option is 'The Sun TV', which will aim to entice The Sun's wider readership to tune in.

Talk TV is - for now - available on Sky channel 522.