Race to give UK a US-style news channel

THE race is on to bring a US-style TV news service to Britain with two groups plotting to rival the BBC and Sky.

Both the planned services, set to be dominated by ‘strong’ and ‘well-known’ personality presenters, are expected to shake up the market and challenge the BBC, which is increasingly regarded as Left-ofcentre and dominated by ‘woke’ politics.

In a sign of how serious the plans are, one of the businesses has been in talks with the BBC’s most respected political interviewer Andrew Neil, who has still not resolved his future at the corporation.

While it is unclear exactly where the new services will pitch themselves on the political spectrum, it is thought they are certain to be to the Right of the BBC.

Today’s exclusive Daily Mail poll reveals that half of people said the corporation ‘does not reflect’ their values. And 59 per cent said they agreed with Boris Johnson’s criticism of the BBC for ‘cringing with embarrassment over our history’.

The two planned new services are both expected to be more ‘news-talk’ shows than the traditional rolling news services that are provided by BBC News and Sky News. One of the companies, GB News, which has already secured an Ofcom licence, is backed by investors from the US and the UK. It has been in talks with American media giant Discovery.

It is understood that GB News has been in discussions with Mr Neil about joining up, with sources suggesting it would be similar to a TV version of the LBC radio station.

According an insider it will aim to sit in the centre of the political spectrum but be less Left-wing and less woke than the BBC. An insider said: ‘Just by taking a centrist line it will seem more to the Right because the others are so much to the Left.’ Sources say News UK, the publisher of The Sun and The Times, which is controlled by Rupert Murdoch, has also been developing plans to launch a news channel. Discussion are at an advanced level.

Earlier this year David Rhodes, former president of CBS News in the US, was brought in to News UK. It is understood he joined to launch a news channel.

There are said to be high-level discussions about what form the service will take. Mr Rhodes also worked as a senior executive at Fox News, which is on the Right of American politics and is famous for its strident take on the news.