Piers Morgan to launch global Fox News-backed TV show

Deal includes a newspaper column and book deal

Piers Morgan (L) is joining Rupert Murdoch's News Corp and Fox news media. PA
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Piers Morgan, the outspoken British journalist and broadcaster, has joined Rupert Murdoch's News Corp and Fox News Media in a global deal.

The package will include a new TV show in early 2022, newspaper columns and a book deal.

It comes after his resignation in March from British broadcaster ITV's breakfast show after he said he did not believe comments made by Prince Harry's wife, Meghan, in an Oprah Winfrey interview.

More than 50,000 people complained about his comments but Britain's media regulator ruled that ITV did not break the broadcasting code on the grounds that Mr Morgan was challenged by other presenters.

In a statement on Thursday, Mr Murdoch said the star was "the broadcaster every channel wants but is too afraid to hire".

"Piers is a brilliant presenter, a talented journalist and says what people are thinking and feeling," he said.

The 56-year-old's TV show will air on weeknights on FOX Nation in the US, Sky News Australia and on talkTV, a new British channel that will launch early next year.

The channel will come to the screen less than a year after GB News launched in June, aimed at challenging what it casts as the London-centred British media.

Mr Morgan will join Mr Murdoch's tabloids The Sun and the New York Post as a columnist, the company said and HarperCollins UK will publish his next book.

Mr Morgan previously edited Mr Murdoch's defunct News of the World tabloid and hosted a show on CNN.

"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," Mr Morgan said.

"I'm going home and we're going to have some fun."

Updated: September 16, 2021, 4:16 PM