GB News is a new UK television channel which is being established by a politically conservative group of broadcasters. It will be a free-to-receive digital TV channel and the enterprise is backed by - among others - John Malone, owner of the Liberty Global empire.

Andrew Neil, its chair, will host a prime-time show. Other hires include Nick Ferrari, who is best known as a presenter on LBC, a spoken-word station. They have also hired Julia Hartley-Brewer and Dan Wootton - both from talkRADIO, another speech station.

Despite being trailed as a British Fox News, it will need to stick to the UK's strict impartiality rules and will be regulated by Ofcom, the telecoms regulator.

The market has not proved lucrative, especially compared to the situation in the US.

Sky News, perhaps the best model for GB News to emulate, has been broadcasting since 1989 and it managed to "reach" 24 per cent of British people over a four-week spell. But even they only manage to pick up 1 per cent of the average daily minutes of viewing.