Andrew Neil has revealed that he received a "very generous" offer from Rupert Murdoch's new news service before he opted to take up the role of GB News chairman instead.
Launching in the new year, GB News will shun the rolling news models of Sky News and BBC News and offer anchor-led programming, with Neil himself presenting the channel's flagship primetime show.
Murdoch, who previously enlisted Neil to help launch BSkyB and Sky News in the 1980s, is also thought to be working on a new news channel for the UK market and, appearing on Good Morning Britain today, the veteran broadcaster admitted rebuffing Murdoch's approach.
"They tried to get me to join, but in the end I decided not to. I left Rupert Murdoch's organisation 25 years ago and it didn't seem to me to be a sensible career move to go back - although the offer they made was very generous and very professional and so on," he said.
"It's not quite clear yet what they intend to do. I originally thought they were going to do a channel like GB News but the latest I hear is that they're going to do maybe three programmes a day - one on showbiz, one on politics and then a debate show, and then stream them.
"Maybe they'll change now we've announced our launch but GB News is going to be on Freeview, the Sky platform, Virgin cable and so on, and it's not clear yet that News UK's plans are going to do that. But hey, it's a market, competition - we're happy to meet anybody in the marketplace and give it our best shot."
Neil will front his final programming for the BBC - coverage of the US election - in November before fully switching his attention to GB News.
Neil Wilkes
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