After months of speculation, Piers Morgan has made his next move: teaming up with media mogul Rupert Murdoch.
The controversial British TV personality said Thursday that he’s inked a deal with Murdoch’s News Corp and Fox News Media. He’ll launch a new TV show in early 2022, and will join The Sun and New York Post newspapers as a columnist.
The TV program will air in the United Kingdom on talkTV, a new channel announced on Thursday, as well as on Sky News Australia and the Fox News streaming service Fox Nation in the United States. Morgan will also write a new book with publisher and News Corp subsidiary HarperCollins and present a series of true crime documentaries.
“Great to be rejoining Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation after 28 years,” Morgan tweeted. “The place I started my media career, with the boss who gave me my first big break. We’re going to have a lot of fun…”
Morgan left ITV’s “Good Morning Britain” in March after he took aim at Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex. Morgan questioned whether she was being truthful about having suicidal thoughts in a blockbuster interview with Oprah Winfrey.
His comments sparked more than 50,000 complaints from viewers, but UK media regulator Ofcom ruled recently that he did not break British broadcasting rules.
Murdoch, who made Morgan the youngest editor of a national UK newspaper in 50 years by tapping him to lead News of the World in 1994, described him on Thursday as “the broadcaster every channel wants but is too afraid to hire.” Morgan hosted a show on CNN between 2011 and 2014.
“Piers is a brilliant presenter, a talented journalist and says what people are thinking and feeling,” Murdoch said in a statement. “He has many passionate fans around the world and we look forward to expanding his audience.”
Murdoch’s new talkTV could shake up the television news landscape in Britain, which is generally characterized by staid and down-the-middle coverage. But its success isn’t guaranteed.
GB News, which has prioritized on-air personalities and opinion over straight news, has struggled since its launch in June. Earlier this week, former BBC journalist Andrew Neil announced that he was stepping down as the channel’s chairman.
News UK said that talkTV would feature “proper hourly news bulletins, sports and entertainment shows as well as current affairs, debate, opinion and documentaries.”
The launch marks a strategy shift. In April, the company had told employees that launching a “traditional” news channel “was not commercially viable.”
