The hole in TV business coverage

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The hole in TV business coverage

There is an Ian King shaped hole in business news.

The Sky presenter is leaving at the end of April, but is unlikely to be on air between now and then. He will write for the website, then move on.

To where? Well, he can’t say very much at the moment, but I can speculate.

The BBC does business news very well, but mostly only as part of its normal programming.

Nor do the other established terrestrial broadcasters cover business in specialist programmes outside their main news bulletins. The days of ITV London’s The City Programme or Channel 4’s Business Daily are long past.

Just as, arguably, interest in business news has never been bigger.

Perhaps one of those broadcasters wants to burnish their business credentials, to shake-off the idea that they are opposed to, or just don’t understand, entities that are supposed to make a profit.

Or perhaps a newspaper publisher looking to expand into video content might think him an obvious choice to lead their new venture.

Or maybe he’ll decide to go it alone: Ian King Live, the YouTube show, the podcast, the blog and the movie.

King hasn’t been on air since August 19 – a phone interview when Mike Lynch went missing. The last broadcast from Sky’s City studio was on August 2.

Since he began the show in April 2014, there have been 2000 editions. Viewer numbers hit 250,000 during the first lockdowns, when interest in business and financial news was at its highest.

The PR trade is also missing the show. Not because they expected their clients to get an easy ride, but because they knew the questions would be smart. They could usually make a case for getting their CEO on.

Perhaps the demise of King’s show – I’ll declare that he is a mate, but then again he’s mates with nearly everyone – says something wider about the mainstream media.

If it feels it can’t support one serious business show a day, that’s a depressing conclusion – and the wrong one.

Sky says it will continue with Business Live in some form and insists it will still invest in money coverage.

That leaves a gap in the market, nonetheless. Someone is going to do well from filling it.

Please send candidates for press release of the day to: Simon.english@roxhillmedia.com

Press release of the day

The surprise growth in pay puts an end to any hope of a rate cut before Christmas says Ebury.

Matthew Ryan, head of market strategy, says: “Today’s red hot private sector wage figures almost guarantee that the Bank of England will stress a slow and steady approach to rate cuts during their upcoming meeting on Thursday. While UK inflation now appears largely under control, still sky-high earnings growth, combined with the pro-inflationary impact of the Autumn Budget and Trump’s trade policies, risks keeping consumer prices higher for longer.”

Inflation is still with us, in other words.

Stories that will keep rolling

1) Paula Vennells says no-one told her about Horizon. BBC 

2) Neil Woodford: who he blames for collapse of fund. City AM 

3) Private companies to skip market abuse rules in share sales, says FCA. FT 

4) UK proposes letting tech firms use copyrighted work to train AI. Guardian 

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