LONDON, March 5 (Reuters) - News UK, the British media

arm of the Murdoch family, will move its TalkTV channel online,

ditching its presence on linear television just two years after

a high-profile launch centred around its star presenter Piers

Morgan.

News UK, publisher of the Sun and the Times and owned by

News Corp ( NWSA ), told staff in a memo seen by Reuters that

the shift to online news consumption meant running a traditional

television channel no longer made economic sense.

TalkTV debuted in April 2022, aiming to create a "new voice"

in news and opinion, and competing against GB News, which had

launched the previous year to challenge what it said was the

London-centred consensus of the British media, led by the BBC.

"While linear TV has been a good marketing and awareness

window for Talk, we now need to focus our investment on where

the eyeballs are and where the revenues are in growth," News

UK's Scott Taunton, EVP, President of Broadcasting, told staff.

The closure of the linear TV operation shows the financial

challenge faced by traditional broadcast media as viewer numbers

slide, making for a tough advertising market.

News UK will take the channel off air in early summer to

focus on streaming, it said. The group declined to comment on

how many jobs could be lost as part of a restructuring process

which will now follow.