Fox News took Tucker Carlson off the air and immediately paid the price.
Now Tucker Carlson is looking at scoring his biggest piece of revenge.
And Tucker Carlson held one secret meeting that will send Fox News into a panic.
When Tucker Carlson began posting short videos of his show on Twitter, it only signaled the first step in his comeback.
Carlson and his former college roommate, Neil Patel – with whom Carlson founded the Daily Caller – are reportedly lining up the financing and infrastructure to form a new media company which Carlson’s show will anchor.
“Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson and former White House adviser Neil Patel are seeking to raise funds to start a new media company that would potentially use Twitter as its backbone, according to people familiar with the matter,” the Wall Street Journal reported.
Carlson would provide teasers to fans for free on social media, but to watch the full version of his show, as well as the programs from the other hosts who will join Carlson in this new venture, fans would have to subscribe much the way they do to other streaming services like Netflix, Disney Plus, or Amazon Prime.
“The new company would be anchored by longer versions of the free videos that Carlson has been posting regularly on Twitter since shortly after his departure from Fox News, but would ultimately be driven by subscriptions, some of the people said,” the Journal also reported.
To create this new venture, Carlson signed up with Red Seat Ventures, the same company which helped his predecessors in the Fox News 8PM time slot – Megyn Kelly and Bill O’Reilly – form their successful podcast and media companies.
“Carlson’s predecessors in the 8 p.m. slot, including Megyn Kelly and Bill O’Reilly, later signed deals with Red Seat Ventures, a company that helped them create their own media businesses. Carlson’s team is also in talks with Red Seat Ventures, according to people familiar with the matter,” the Journal reported.
The number of Americans with cable declines every year.
Only 44 percent of Americans between 18 to 49 – the key demographic that determines advertising rates – have cable in their homes.
That number figures to drop each year.
Tucker Carlson was supposed to be the flagship star for Fox Nation, the direct to consumer Fox streaming platform.
But since firing Carlson, traffic to Fox Nation tanked.
When Tucker Carlson was at Fox News, he drew the youngest audience in cable news.
And Carlson could deal a massive blow to Fox News’ future plans to grow its streaming business by starting up his own media company, which would dominate the audience Fox News needs to offset the losses as more Americans cut the cord and ditch cable.
