Like many people in the UK and around the world, Rupert Murdoch has been watching more television than usual. Like some viewers, he has been unhappy with the channels on offer. Unlike almost anyone else, however, the media mogul could do more than just complain about it.
From the Oxfordshire estate where the nonagenarian has sat out much of the pandemic with his former supermodel wife Jerry Hall, Murdoch resolved to launch his own station, said people familiar with his thinking.
The executive chair of News Corp and co-chairman of Fox Corporation had been toying with the idea of launching a UK news channel for at least two years, but this summer — especially after he saw the troubled launch of GB News — he became more insistent that the project go ahead.