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GB News owners including Sir Paul Marshall pumped in about £34mn in further funding for the lossmaking broadcaster last year, taking the total owed to its shareholders to more than £117mn since it launched in 2021.
In accounts filed at Companies House, GB News, which has a number of past Conservative MPs working as presenters, reported a loss of £33.4mn in the 2023/24 financial year, narrower than £42.4mn the year before.
GB News more than doubled its revenues in the past year to £15.8mn.
The group continues to be supported by parent company All Perspectives, which is mostly owned and funded by Marshall, the British hedge fund tycoon, and Dubai-based Legatum Ventures.
The accounts say that at May 31, 2024, the company had a balance due to All Perspectives of about £118mn “in respect of operational funding provided by the parent company”, up from £83.8mn the year before.
It added that the parent company “has a strong positive net asset position and has confirmed its ongoing commitment to funding the operations of GB News Limited”.
GB News had overall net liabilities of £109.4mn as at May 31, 2024.
“With television audience share up 53 per cent and radio audience share up 61 per cent year-on-year, audiences across linear platforms again grew strongly in the last year,” chief executive Angelos Frangopoulos said in the accounts.
“To drive this growth, the management continued to evolve the company’s programming line-up and adapted to the inevitable challenges faced by the group as it takes market share in a well-established market.”
A spokesperson for Marshall declined to comment.
The channel has repeatedly breached the broadcasting code in part owing to rulings about a lack of due impartiality on some of its shows.
However, on Friday the right-leaning broadcaster won a court case against Ofcom, the media regulator, overturning such a ruling against a show hosted by former Conservative MP Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg.
GB News had lodged a judicial review of Ofcom’s decisions that shows hosted by Rees-Mogg had breached the broadcasting code.
The High Court ruled against Ofcom’s conclusions that the broadcasts, on May 9 and June 13 2023, had breached the code’s due impartiality and content regulations.
Under Ofcom rules, politicians can present current affairs programmes and may appear in broadcast news content as an interviewee but cannot serve as a newsreader, interviewer or reporter.
Frangopoulos said the ruling “vindicates GB News’ position as the fearless defender of free speech” in the UK and said the regulator’s actions were unfair to broadcasters as well as listeners and viewers.
Ofcom said: “We will now review and consult on proposed changes to the Broadcasting Code to restrict politicians from presenting news in any type of programme to ensure this is clear for all broadcasters.”
