Posted on 05/26/2023 11:32:08 AM PDT by TBP
Some big names at Fox News may be gone in the near future as well, according to a report published on Thursday.
Variety reported that a handful of current Fox News talent are contemplating throwing in with whatever project former top-rated host Tucker Carlson may be working on, which could include programming that would be broadcast on Twitter.
The report comes after Carlson strongly hinted earlier this month in a video posted to the platform that he was preparing to air a program live on Twitter.
“Carlson’s Twitter move could have additional reverberations with talent at the network. A handful of Fox anchors have reached out to Carlson directly or had their surrogates contact him to say they are eager to join whatever venture he starts on Twitter when their contracts are up, according to sources,” Variety reported.
Carlson currently remains under contract with Fox News at a reported $20 million a year, so he isn’t free to sign on with another network. Reports said his contract doesn’t expire until after the 2024 election, in January 2025.
Variety also reported that Carlson was taken off the air as a condition of Fox’s recent defamation settlement:
On April 26, Carlson spoke by phone with one of Fox Corp.’s eight board members, who told the host that his recent benching was a condition of Fox News’ settlement with Dominion Voting Systems, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the conversation.
The unnamed board member told Carlson that the condition does not appear in any of the settlement’s documents, and instead was a verbal agreement. If Fox didn’t comply, the settlement was off, Carlson was told. Dominion had plenty of leverage given that the $787.5 million deal to settle Dominion’s defamation suit against the network wouldn’t officially close until late May.
The outlet went on to report that while Dominion’s defamation claims rested mostly on accusations aired post-2020 election on programs hosted by Sean Hannity, Jeanine Pirro, and Maria Bartiromo, the company wanted to hurt Fox and, as such, chose to press the network into cutting ties with its most popular talent: Carlson.
“That condition was intended to hurt Fox, and Tucker is just collateral damage,” a source familiar with the matter told Variety. “Dominion wanted to punish Fox, and it’s working.”
Both Fox and Dominion have denied that Carlson’s dismissal was part of the settlement agreement.
According to sources close to him, Carlson is reportedly considering the possibility of creating his own direct-to-consumer media platform, where his large fan base could pay to watch him. The model was previously used by Carlson’s predecessor on Fox News, Bill O’Reilly, who is currently hosting a show during Carlson’s old timeslot for The First TV, which recently became available on DirecTV.
Axios — and others — reported that Carlson has already been contacted by multiple outlets, including the Rumble streaming platform, Newsmax TV, and Valuetainment, and have offered to pay him more per year than Fox is shelling out.
In a video posted to Twitter this month, Carlson said, “There aren’t many platforms left that allow free speech. The last big one remaining in the world is Twitter. If you bump up against the limits [in the news business] you will be fired for it.”
“The rule of what you can’t say defines everything,” he said, adding, “You can’t have a free society if people aren’t allowed to say what they think is true… There aren’t many platforms left that allow free speech. The last big one… is Twitter, where we are now.”
“Starting soon, we’ll be bringing a new version of the show we’ve been doing for the last six and a half years to Twitter,” Carlson added. “We’ll be bringing some other things too, which we’ll tell you about. But for now, we’re just grateful to be here. Free speech is the main right that you have, without it, you have no others. See you soon.”
Shorter skirts
“The unnamed board member told Carlson that the condition does not appear in any of the settlement’s documents, and instead was a verbal agreement.”
Uh - no language in the settlement agreement that “there are no oral or written representations or agreements that are not set forth in this Agreement” language? For probably $1K/hr, you’d think Fox’s attorneys could have done better...
Much repeated story but no names.
TCN
Started?
Hannity.
I think he said that NewsMax wanted him to disparage Fox and he didn’t want to do that.
This is a garbage report. A vague headline expanded into a couple hundred words which says nothing.
I’ve heard this reported a couple of times now. I’d like to find out who, specifically, is thinking about jumping ship? They better not be “never Trumpers” looking to ride Tucker’s coattails.
After Tucker there’s noting left to take from Faux.
Maybe they could hire Don Lemon - I heard he got canned by cnn an none of their 47 viewers complained except one that said his name was Ken Overbite.
“Dominion wanted to punish Fox, and it’s working.”
BS. Faux has been looking for a way to get rid of the ones that speak the truth. They are compromised, absolutely.
You can run this like radio. You can buy the time and keep all revenues, you can share revenues with Twitter, or you can make a certain amount of your time available for Twitter to advertise things.
The Twitter Space where DeSantis was talking to Musk crashed due to too many people trying to get in. I wonder if Elon’s going to try to build up its capacity now.
I wonder if its Laura. She sometimes seems like she’s constraining herself.
I suppose so. But unless you are a good salesperson or can otherwise attract sponsors, better I think to just let professionals run the ads for you. One hitch might be some sponsors are afraid to be affiliated with certain content. Another hitch would be timing. I hate watching youtube videos when they drop an ad in mid-sentence. At least traditional outlets have a schedule so you know to plan for a break... or maybe the video makers don’t know to insert a break for ads, or maybe youtube doesn’t use regular timed intervals that programmers can work off of.
Elon Musk just made the offer - I am not sure how it works. He was trying to attract content creators to publish on Twitter - anything from written word to audio to video and maybe more like pure play long form sales programs though few I think would knowingly tune into a 30 minute long ad. And yet, they do run on TV.
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