Rupert Murdoch’s News UK has announced plans to launch a national television station called talkTV, which will be a rival to the floundering GB News and provide a platform for the return of Piers Morgan.

He will host a new show that will air in the US, UK and Australia – his first major new presenting job since leaving ITV’s Good Morning Britain in March.

In a statement, Murdoch said, “Piers is the broadcaster every channel wants but is too afraid to hire.”

Morgan said he was “thrilled” to return to News Corp, where he began his media career more than 30 years ago. The presenter worked for the Murdoch-owned tabloids The Sun and News of the World in the 1980s and 1990s.

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“Rupert Murdoch has been a constant and fearless champion of free speech and we are going to be building something new and very exciting together,” Morgan said.

“I want my global show to be a fearless forum for lively debate and agenda-setting interviews, and a place that celebrates the right of everyone to have an opinion, and for those opinions to be vigorously examined and challenged,” he added.

It is reportedly said that Morgan will also become a columnist for The Sun and The New York Post. It is not yet clear whether that means he will step down from his current post as columnist for the Daily Mail.

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The appointment was announced on the same day the Murdoch-owned media company News UK announced it will launch talkTV in early 2022.

The title of the new network brings it into line with the company’s speech radio stations talkRADIO and talkSPORT.

BBC reported that Chris Evans, Graham Norton, Julia Hartley-Brewer, Trisha Goddard, John Pienaar, Rob Rinder and the newly-hired Jeremy Kyle are among the presenters across News UK’s radio networks.

Meanwhile, in a press release, News UK said that the channel would feature “proper hourly news bulletins, sports and entertainment shows as well as current affairs, debate, opinion and documentaries”.

Rebekah Brooks, chief executive of News UK, said: “Piers will be the most brilliant primetime draw for our new talkTV service and a fantastic columnist for The Sun. Sun readers love Piers and I am delighted that he is back.”