As Guido predicted – sources say that TalkTV is shifting off broadcast linear TV, and will be an online live streamer only instead. They will continue to “stream news and opinion channel, distributing through streaming platforms to include YouTube, Amazon Fire, Samsung, LG and others.” Meaning they’ll no longer have their own television channel…

Guido hears that staff will be redeployed to other parts of the business from May, with the operation planning on rebranding the news studios which will make content for all News UK’s brands such as The Sun and The Times. They’re all YouTubers now…

UPDATE:  Currently the YouTube live channel has less than a thousand viewers.

UPDATE: Read in full the email announcement from Scott Taunton spinning the shutdown as a shift to YouTube:

Thank you to those of you who were able to join our town hall earlier. I wanted to recap what I discussed and ensure that anyone who missed it is up to date.

I firstly want to thank all of you for what we have achieved to date. Two years ago we set out to create a new voice in television news and opinion, and to build a new broadcast capability to break news and highlight journalism from around all of our brands, reaching new audiences and bringing in new revenues.

Launching TalkTV, we invested in professional equipment, galleries and studios in the News Building, and we hired a team of talented people. Journalists from across our newsbrands are frequent contributors to our live TV output and video clips are repurposed on social and streaming, amplifying the reach of those stories. We have broken hundreds of stories and broadcast thousands of exclusive interviews and compelling debates.

Talk has built a recognisable brand that is attracting over 40 million views online each month. We can all be rightfully proud of what we have created and of our professional and high quality output.

It is obvious to all of us that, for the majority of people, news consumption is shifting online. People are checking the news via their smartphones and the highest consumption of Talk’s content is already online – and growing. Two years ago, we would not have been brave enough to launch a channel without a linear presence, but audiences of all ages have moved fast and smartphones are now the primary device where news is consumed. We need to adapt to this as a priority. We are therefore intending that Talk comes off linear television from early summer and our focus will be on streaming.

While linear TV has been a good marketing and awareness window for Talk, we now need to focus our investment on where the eyeballs are and where the revenues are in growth. In order to be successful, we need to prioritise being where the audiences are, rather than asking them to come to find us down the channel guide. It makes economic sense too. Linear channel slots cost us millions a year and the advertising revenues are never going to materially exceed the cost of being in these distribution slots, while data-led digital advertising and CTV is in growth.

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.

In the coming months, we are proposing to create a new division, News Studios, which will service each of our newsbrands, turbocharging video creation for all our brands – talkSPORT, The Sun, The Times, The Sunday Times and Virgin Radio, and of course also for Talk and for PMU. All our video content will be created with online audiences in mind and will be distributed through owned websites and apps, as well as streaming and social platforms to include YouTube and TikTok, building on what we have done for Talk.

News Studios will produce both short-form bitesize content for immediate consumption, as well as long-form shows edited for on-demand viewing. We have some exciting plans and News Studios will become the home of original programming for all our brands. We have the opportunity to be the best in the industry given our highly professionalised infrastructure and our skilled teams, as well as our funnel of world class journalism and storytelling.

All of this content will be produced in the News Building – from the Level 2 studios, from upgraded studios on Level 17 and from new studios we are investing in around the building. We foresee exciting new roles in the coming months.

This is an evolution and a testament to the proof of concept that Talk has already delivered.

Because we are proposing to create News Studios and change Talk’s priorities, we are proposing that there is a restructure so that we can focus our resources and talent on the output we will be creating. Everyone affected will be spoken to in the coming days in meetings organised by your manager. At these meetings you will have an opportunity to ask further questions and I thank you for your patience in advance as we work through these proposals.

As part of our proposals, Richard Wallace will lead News Studios and Piers Morgan Uncensored, and Talk will be led by Dennie Morris.

All of the media industry is adapting and here at News we have a history of prospering because we have not been afraid to innovate and to invest for the long term. News consumption is rapidly changing and we must evolve to keep pace and to be ahead of changing technology and consumer behaviour.

We are backed by world famous brands and solid journalism, positioning us well to build on our strong foundations.

For now it’s business as usual.

Thank you for your continued work and commitment.

Scott

Scott Taunton
EVP, President of Broadcasting