Look out Meghan, £50m Piers is heading your way
He signs up for new TV channel airing in the US
PIERS MORGAN announced a
sensational return to TV screens yesterday in a deal believed to be worth £50million.
The former Good Morning Britain star rejected offers from UK broadcasters to sign up as the face of a new station launched by Rupert Murdoch.
Morgan was a free agent after quitting the ITV show in March. In an on-air outburst, he questioned claims made by the Duchess of Sussex in her and Prince Harry’s interview with Oprah Winfrey, including some about her mental health.
He then stormed out of the studio after a colleague challenged him and later quit after his bosses told him to apologise.
Media watchdog Ofcom received more than 50,000 complaints about the programme, but this month it found the broadcast as a whole did not break any rules. Many expected this outcome would lead to Morgan getting his job back – but no offer was made.
The star announced yesterday he is joining Mr Murdoch’s media empire. It is understood he will get £50million over three years – or more than £300,000 a week.
His main TV project will be the flagship show on the talkTV channel being launched next year.
The programme will air on weeknights in the UK, US and Australia. The global nature of the show will lead to speculation Morgan could use it to continue his war of words with Meghan, who reportedly wrote to his boss at ITV to complain about him.
Morgan, 56, 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.’
Mr Murdoch, 90, said Morgan is ‘the broadcaster every channel wants but is too afraid to hire’. He added: ‘Piers is a brilliant presenter, a talented journalist and says what people are thinking and feeling.’
Morgan started his career more than three decades ago on a Murdoch paper, running The Sun’s showbusiness column Bizarre for four years before becoming editor of the News Of The World in 1994.