Murdoch media empire stung as Sun and TalkTV record multi-million pound losses

Rupert Murdoch’s UK media empire has been badly bruised after The Sun and TalkTV recorded heavy losses.

The latest accounts for NewsUK show the redtop has more than doubled its pre-tax losses to £127 million – thanks largely to the £99.8m set aside for “damages and claimant’s legal expenses relating to phone hacking” and “future costs“.

Revenues rose slightly from £318.6 million to £320.5 million following growth in their online business.

As for TalkTV, News UK Broadcasting lost £34 million after the channel’s launch last April, with revenues at a paltry £1.1 million.

The Times and The Sunday Times, meanwhile, fared much better.

Accounts show profits doubled to £73.2 million last year, up from £34 million the year before.

They also gained 70,000 digital-only subscribers, bringing their online total to 438,000, or 641,000 including print.

Jack Peat

Jack is a business and economics journalist and the founder of The London Economic (TLE). He has contributed articles to VICE, Huffington Post and Independent and is a published author. Jack read History at the University of Wales, Bangor and has a Masters in Journalism from the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.