Source: GBNews/Youtube
SKY CUSTOMERS in Ireland will be able to watch the new GB News channel when it launches this weekend, but Virgin Media Ireland has no «immediate plans» to broadcast the channel.
The new round-the-clock news channel promises «different viewpoints» with its chief, Andrew Neal, saying the station would «proud to be British».
The channel will officially launch on Sunday at 8pm, with Sky Ireland the magazine It is broadcast live to Irish customers on channel 515.
In the UK, channel bosses say it will reach an estimated 96% of British TV homes via a range of providers including Sky and Virgin Media.
What can we expect from the new channel?
If it matters to you, it matters to us. GB News starts Sunday 13th June. pic.twitter.com/rOvzmwJhmP
– GBNEWS June 8, 2021
When the channel was set up together, it was reported that the direction of GB News would be unabashedly pro-British, pro-Brexit and right-leaning.
This led to it being compared to a British version of Fox News.
The financiers behind the channel have been careful to downplay the comparison, but it is clear that GB News will at least seek to draw on that kind of audience.
The channel’s logo prominently features the British flag and on its launch site the channel says it will «give people in the UK the space to express their opinions».
If it matters to you, it matters to us. GB News starts Sunday 13th June. pic.twitter.com/rOvzmwJhmP
– GBNEWS June 8, 2021
Referring to the criticism that often comes from conservative politicians both in the UK and abroad, the station says: «There are always more than two sides to every story».
Comedian Andrew Doyle, who will present Free Speech Nation on the channel, said in a promo that the Brexit debate was «reduced into a binary issue between good and evil, racism versus non-racism».
GB News says it will encourage discussion while «bringing the whole nation together, all in one place – uniting, not dividing».
Who is behind the channel?
Andrew Neal arrives at BBC Broadcasting House.
Source: PA Images
The channel is funded by various sources, and perhaps the most important investment was the involvement of the American broadcasting giant Discovery.
Discovery Inc, the US-based documentary network, was the first major investor with a reported investment of around £20 million. The full amount raised has not been disclosed but it is understood to be in the region of £60m.
Discovery’s involvement provides both expertise and weight to GB News, but the channel is also funded by Dubai-based investment group Legatum.
Another investor is Paul Marshall, one of the most prominent hedge fund managers in the UK.
Marshall is the co-founder of hedge fund Marshall Weiss and was a donor to the Leave Vote campaign. The company said that his stake in GB News will be in his personal capacity.
Who will be in front of the camera?
There will be a few faces on GB News that will be familiar to Irish viewers.
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Firmang-born Darren McCaffrey was a Dublin correspondent for Sky News before moving to Euronews. He is now moving to GB News where he will be the station’s political editor.
In the past few days, McCaffrey has been tweeting about several UK news events, including tweeting several times about Oxford students who voted to remove the Queen’s portrait from their common room.
Let’s be clear – the irony of this, the students are not anti-establishment and choose to give up portraiture
This is why, if the Queen’s plate makes you feel uncomfortable, you should probably stay at home, rather than attend the best university in the country! https://t.co/3ntmDxQD3P
– Darren McCaffrey (@DarrenGBNews) June 9, 2021
You can also get to know Andrew Neal mentioned above.
Neil was a veteran BBC journalist and one of the UK’s most popular political debaters before leaving the broadcaster last year.
A former editor of the Sunday Times, he had a long – and Controversial sometimes Broadcaster profession. In addition to giving his own show, Neil is a co-founder of GB News and will serve as its Chairman.
He said last year that the station would be less like Sky News and «will be based more like MSNBC in America, on the left, and Fox on the right.»
He has already fallen behind ي «Woke Watch» will be part of His new show.
Other British journalists moving to GB News include former BBC newsreader Simon McCoy, former Sky news presenter Colin Brazier, former Sky Sports presenter Kirsty Gallacher, former journalist at Sundan Wootton and former winner of the intern and television interviewer Michel Debre.
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