The Daily Mail’s parent company is to launch its own television programme to be syndicated across the US, it has been announced.
DailyMailTV will be hosted by former American football player Jesse Palmer, who has joined from the US broadcaster ABC News, where he contributed to Good Morning America.
“I love telling stories that engage and excite Americans and to be able to do this five days a week on DailyMailTV is a dream come true,” said Palmer, who will continue as an analyst for sports channel ESPN.
The programme is being launched by DailyMail.com, the US operation of Mail Online, which is part of the Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) group.
The 60-minute programme will focus on many of the topics that are popular with readers of Mail Online, including “showbiz, politics, crime, health and science and technology”. Its first broadcast is scheduled for 18 September, and deals have been signed that will allow it to reach up to 96% of the US population, DailyMail.com said.
Paul Dacre, editor of the Daily Mail, previously sought to distance himself from Mail Online, saying it was a “totally separate entity that has its own publisher, its own readership, different content and a very different worldview”, in an editorial in which he attacked the Guardian.
The chief executive, editor-in-chief and publisher of Mail Online is Martin Clarke. The newspaper and Mail Online titles have distinct editorial lines. They share content and are both part of DMG Media, of which Dacre is editor-in-chief. Dacre was paid a bonus of more than £260,000 for “[continuing] to invest in strong brands of digital consumer media – particularly Mail Online”, according to DMGT’s latest annual report.
DailyMailTV’s executive producers will be Phil McGraw, the presenter of popular US show Dr Phil, and that show’s executive producer, Carla Pennington. Clarke and Jay McGraw, executive producer of The Doctors, will also be involved.
Shares in DMGT have fallen by almost a fifth this year as investors fret about the decline in print advertising revenue and the failure of online advertising to make up the shortfall.
