TalkTV losses rise in second year of operation

Losses at the company behind TalkTV ballooned last year as the business launched more programming in its second year of operations.

In newly published accounts the News UK-owned channel said that pre-tax loss had hit £53.7 million in the year to July 2 2023. It was an increase from £34.1 million the year before.

“Losses for the year increased due to the increased programming following the launch of the channel only running for two months in the prior years,” TalkTV owner News UK Broadcasting Limited said.

The business made a turnover of £5.6 million in the year to early July 2023, up more than fivefold from the year before. Its staff costs grew from £4.9 million to £9.6 million in the same period.

Separately, sister company Times Media, which publishes the Times and Sunday Times, reported a 16.8% fall in pre-tax profit to £60.9 million.

Turnover increased from £373.4 million to £385.8 million in the same period as the company added 58,000 new digital subscribers to the 500,000 it already had.

It also said that turnover, which dropped from £320.5 million to £305.2 million, faced some problems from the “volatility of social platforms’ approach toward news content”.

This hit both print and digital advertising, the company said, as the Sun UK’s online audience fell by four million to 23.8 million.

News Group Newspapers’ pre-tax loss nearly halved, hitting £65.9 million in the year.