The Telegraph: GB News beats TalkTV to Virgin Media channel slot

Story from The Telegraph*:

GB News has outmuscled Rupert Murdoch's TalkTV to secure a channel slot on Virgin Media that will bolster its fight for viewers.

The fledgling news network will move on rumoured August 24th from channel 626 to the more prominent channel 604 slot on the pay TV operator's channel guide, according to RXTV's website.

The move will strengthen its challenge to the BBC by moving GB News closer to the 24-hour news channels of BBC and Sky. The 604 channel sits between Sky News and BBC Parliament, while BBC News HD holds the 601 position.

Analysts have pointed to GB News and TalkTV's less competitive positions on TV channel menus as one of the reasons why they have not amassed bigger audiences.

Losing out to a rival comes as another blow for Mr Murdoch's opinionated news station, which has struggled to dislodge GB News and was forced to cut short its Tory leadership debate after presenter Kate McCann fainted live on air.

TalkTV was in a bidding war with GB News for the higher slot because it holds the 627 position on Virgin Media's channel menu, which places it below international news networks, such as Al Jazeera, CNBC and France 24.

Mr Murdoch, who also owns The Sun and The Times, held talks about investing in GB News but later decided to launch his own upstart channel.

*The Telegraph 1st reported this story on August 8th - Media Boy UK HQ only seen this story on August 11th.