Piers Morgan and former GB News chairman Andrew Neil are expected to be “working on some global platform any day soon”, according to the chief executive of ITV.
The 56-year-old is riding high after Ofcom ruled in his favour, stating that his rant on Meghan Markle did not breach the broadcasting code, despite sparking a record number of complaints.
Ofcom stated: “The Code allows for individuals to express strongly held and robustly argued views, including those that are potentially harmful or highly offensive, and for broadcasters to include these in their programming.
“The restriction of such views would, in our view, be an unwarranted and chilling restriction on freedom of expression both of the broadcaster and the audience.’
Speaking at the Royal Television Society Cambridge Convention, Dame Carolyn McCall said: “I will just say that we vigorously defended both the program and Piers to Ofcom, and the reason we didn’t get pulled up by them is because of the programme making.”
Dame Carolyn also said there is “no way we wouldn’t be absolutely not just endorsing but championing freedom of speech and freedom of expression”.
Following Ofcom’s ruling, Piers tweeted out wondering if he would be able to return to his role on Good Morning Britain.
When asked if there was any chance of Piers returning from ITV, Dame Carolyn said that he had resigned.
However, she said she expects to see Piers, as well as former GB News chairman Andrew Neil, “working on some global platform any day soon”.
Piers previously said he had been flooded with job offers after the Ofcom ruling, and that he would be making a decision about where to go “quite soon”.
He said: “I have had loads of offers and they have accelerated in the last 10 hours, as you can imagine, and I will take my free speech campaign around the world and all I require is to have an employer who believes in it as passionately as I do.
‘I’m considering some very interesting offers right now and I will make a decision quite soon.”
Meanwhile, Andrew Neil resigned as chairman and lead presenter of GB News, just three months after helping launch the channel.
In a statement, he said he had decided to “reduce my commitments on a number of fronts”.
He added: “Over the summer I’ve had time to reflect on my extensive portfolio of interests and decided it was time to cut back.”
“I wish GB News well in continuing to fulfill its founding promise and mission to reach audiences currently underserved by existing news broadcasters.”