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Julian said "The Premier League has secured a very, very significant, substantial increase on the previous deal. On what was effectively a billion US dollar deal over the course of six years, it is now at $2.7 billion over the course of six years."

"That’s a two-and-a-half- to three-times increase in the value of the rights in the US which is very, very healthy and which the Premier League really needs to do because the revenue that it's getting from domestic broadcasters, the domestic rights, is basically factored down. In terms of the prospects going forward for the Premier League, it is basically all about trying to expand its revenues and gross revenues abroad, particularly in America." 

Tom said "Whatever its viewing figures, TalkTV's influence is likely to be disproportionate to them. It will still have a hand in setting the news agenda and give News UK a chance to showcase their journalism. So, they will be able to define success quite broadly."

"I think if linear viewing is going badly then they will point to their digital impressions," he says. "While they may fall back on that, the lion's share of their revenues are going to be from the linear TV ad market. That has to perform well for this to be a success." 

Julian said the new offering is in line with the current strategy at Channel 4. "I'd also note that over the last few years Channel 4 has been increasing its share of the top commercial programmes with mass audiences."

Claire said the super-rich have long sought to buy newspapers to help push their agendas and it was now possible to “count on one hand the big media brands that aren’t owned by an oligarch or other billionaire."

“It’s another sign that the super-wealthy wish to control assets that give them an extra level of power. Whatever they may say, that’s the reason why they buy them."

She added “It is now unusual for major news media not to be owned by a billionaire, and that is why the Guardian [owned by the independent Scott Trust], the Financial Times [owned by the employee-owned Japanese media group Nikkei] and the BBC are consistently shown to be the most trusted news brands.”

Gill said it was too early to judge whether the channel owned by Mr Murdoch's News UK will be a success.

"TalkTV isn't a standalone TV station. It is just one aspect of what News UK wants to do in terms of their multi-media approach going forwards."

"Whatever your audience is on the first night, you would expect it to drop massively – especially as they started with Trump. I think they have some good guests coming up over the next few weeks, so I think you will see it building over a period of time."

"And it doesn't just matter what the audience is like in the UK, but also what it is like in America and Australia [where Piers Morgan Uncensored will also be broadcast]."