GB News: What Is It And Why Is It A Thing?
By Jack Shillito
“What is GB News?” I hear you keenly asking. Or perhaps you’re querying, ‘Why is GB News a thing?’
Both good questions, my friend.
So just what is GB News and why is it coming into being?
GB News is the work of All Perspectives, a media company owned by two British-American businessmen, Andrew Cole and Mark Schneider.
The global media and entertainment company Discovery, Inc is the lead investor on the channel, which has already been granted an Ofcom licence and indicated it intends to launch on Freeview in early 2021.
The channel is being set up as an alternative to the BBC and Sky News and is expected to be right-leaning or, depending on your perspective, it will combat perceived left-wing bias at the BBC.
It aims to reach people who feel “underserved and unheard by their media,” according to the political broadcaster Andrew Neil who has been announced as chairman for GB News as well as the host of a nightly show.
Neil was, until recently, a 25 year veteran at the BBC presenting much of its political output such as Daily Politics and This Week, and is currently chairman of The Spectator. Neil confirmed via Twitter that he is leaving the BBC to be chairman of GB News, as well as presenting a “nightly prime-time show”, which will air Monday through to Thursday.
The Evening Standard reports that, at a time when the BBC and commercial media companies are cutting jobs, GB News hopes to create at least 120 positions. They include more than 100 journalists in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland with the channel.
Indeed, according to individuals approached by GB News, the station has also been offering salaries above the UK market rate to potential hosts, the Guardian reports.
Speaking to Good Morning Britain, Neil said GB News will be different to the BBC, noting that it will not seek to offer a rolling news service as provided by BBC News and Sky News as there would be “no point doing what is already done pretty well by the existing incumbents”.
Neil has also said: “We’ve seen a huge gap in the market for a new form of television news … GB News is the most exciting thing to happen in British television news for more than 20 years. We will champion robust, balanced debate and a range of perspectives on the issues that affect everyone in the UK, not just those living in the London area.”
Who’s behind this enterprise?
As mentioned, GB News has been founded by media executives Andrew Cole and Mark Schneider through their company, All Perspectives, and will be chaired by Andrew Neil.
Both founders are British-American media executives and have ties to Liberty Global which owns Virgin Media and has a small stake in ITV Plc, the company that effectively owns and operates the ITV network. (There has even been speculation that Liberty could launch a full takeover of ITV, with this rumour circulating via City AM as recently as May.)
Cole and Schneider are also associated with the US billionaire and businessman, John Malone. Malone chairs Liberty Global and is on the board of Discovery, Inc.
[Fun fact: aside from Malone being a billionaire and a seriously big cheese in the media industry, he’s also one of the largest private landowners in the United States, owning upwards of 2.2 million acres (3,437 square miles), which is more than twice the size of the state of Rhode Island..!]
Andrew Cole has been a director at Liberty Global since June 2013. According to the trading website Wallmine, Cole is also a shareholder at Liberty, reportedly owning stock worth more than $1 million.
According to Andrew Cole’s LinkedIn profile, GB News intends ‘to challenge the BBC and other biased incumbent news channels. People looking for something very different. GBN will rock the market. We have secured our senior team: including major industry executives as our Editor, CEO and Chairman. Some amazing new presenter faces. Investor response has been excellent. Our announcement has driven huge amounts of positive coverage.’
Mark Schneider was co-founder of leading European cable group UPC, which was subsequently acquired by Liberty Global in 2005. Making his views on the broadcasting landscape clear, he told his LinkedIn followers that the BBC was “possibly the most biased propaganda machine in the world” and to “watch out for announcements of famous presenters and the launch of a completely new TV news channel for the UK – one that will be distinctly different from the out-of-touch incumbents”. He added: “The people need and want this new perspective.”
Confused about the connections? Let’s quickly straighten this out for you:
Liberty Global is run by John Malone
Andrew Cole sits on the board of Liberty Global
Mark Schneider sold his business to Liberty Global
Cole and Schneider teamed up and founded All Perspectives, owner of GB News
Discovery, Inc, of which Malone is on the board of directors, is the lead investor in the venture
It’s all about who you know, eh?
Call me a cynic but it’s also hard not to think ‘nothing says we’re reaching those “unheard by their media” like three wealthy white male media veterans as the founders and chairman’.
Hiring for other positions has also begun. Several reports have linked Sir Robbie Gibb, ex-BBC political news chief and director of communications for the government while Theresa May was prime minister, to the venture as one of the early hires.
Gibb was head of BBC Westminster and editor of live programmes at the BBC between 2008 and 2017, when he left to lead communications for May’s government.
GB News has also reportedly hired former Sky News executive John McAndrew, who is currently consulting for the American NBC News organisation, as well as the former boss of Sky News Australia, Angelos Frangopoulos, who will act as CEO.
Frangopoulous moved from Australia to the Middle East in April 2018 to take charge of Sky News Arabia as its chief executive officer and managing editor, and at the end of 2019 he was appointed CEO of the news organisation’s holding company Abu Dhabi Media Investment Corporation (ADMIC).
Anything else?
Well, ‘GB News’ is a fairly odd term and perhaps won’t be the actual name when it’s launched as it’s apparently a working title for now.
For starters, if we’re going to dig into it, there’s the pernickety geographical point that GB / Great Britain refers to England, Scotland and Wales - so why not call it ‘UK News’ to include Northern Ireland? (Perhaps that’s too close a name to Rupert Murdoch’s News UK operation.) If the station is to address the unheard in this country then it might be an idea to include more voices from Northern Ireland. Aside from the Irish border issues within the Brexit negotiations, how often do we hear from or about our country folk across the Irish Sea? That said, GB News does intend to hire journalists in Northern Ireland so perhaps it’s the name that’s awkward, not the intention.
As Byline Times notes, a current affairs platform under the name ‘GB TV’ already exists, having been founded in June this year by former UKIP leader Henry Bolton and three of his associates. Bolton’s channel has only published three videos so far but with GB TV styled akin to a news channel, it might confuse those searching for Andrew Neil’s new project.
Further to that, the page ‘GB News’ already exists on Facebook here and here, both of which appear to be a Pakistan news channel.