Ousted Fox News host Tucker Carlson is launching a streaming service
Tucker Carlson, who was ousted from his Fox News program earlier this year, is going it alone via streaming.
The conservative provocateur announced he is launching a new subscription streaming service that will ask consumers to pay $9 a month or an annual fee of $72 for his produced videos of commentary and programming.
Carlson’s website says the service will carry exclusive interviews and investigations, news commentaries and “a direct line to Tucker and his team.” The site was open for business on Monday.
Carlson was the most-watched prime-time cable news host in the country, averaging more than 3 million viewers a day, until his program was pulled by Fox News on April 24.
His exit came a week after Fox News paid $787.5 million to settle a defamation suit from Dominion Voting Systems over the network’s false statements on voting fraud in the 2020 presidential election.
Carlson’s exit was related to the discrimination lawsuit filed by Abby Grossberg, a producer fired by the network who alleged she was bullied and subjected to antisemitic comments on Carlson’s show. In deposition testimony, the former Fox News producer also said she was coerced by company lawyers to give misleading answers in the Dominion defamation case.
Fox News denied the claim and said she was terminated for disclosing privileged company information.
Despite drawing the largest audience in cable news, Carlson’s program lost its major advertising support due to the host’s inflammatory remarks about race and immigration and conspiracy theories about the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
After the success of their recent meetings, Sean Hannity invites California Gov. Gavin Newsom to debate Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on his Fox News show.
Carlson remains under contract at Fox News through 2024. The company has not allowed him to pursue another media job as it continues to pay his salary, believed to be more than $15 million a year.
Earlier this year, Fox News sent a cease and desist letter to Carlson after he began posting videos on X, the social media site formally known as Twitter. The company did not have a comment Monday on Carlson’s new endeavor.
In an interview with Megyn Kelly on her SiriusXM program, Carlson said he was satisfied with the response to his videos on X and will continue to use the platform. But he said he needed a dedicated destination for his content — and a mechanism to pay for it — as he tries to build a library of programming. He noted he did not have the rights to any of the shows he created at Fox News.
While a direct-to-consumer business could yield millions in revenue from loyal fans willing to pay a monthly fee, it will be difficult to have the same impact of being on Fox News, a network with the ability to reach 70 million homes through satellite and cable systems.
Fox News often touted how Carlson’s program delivered a substantial number of viewers who described themselves as independents and Democrats. They are probably not the type of true believers who would shell out money every month for a dedicated service bringing them all Carlson all the time.
The editorial side of the new company will be run by Justin Wells, Carlson’s longtime producer, who was accused of sexual assault in a lawsuit filed by a former Fox News employee last week.
Neil Patel, who co-founded Carlson’s website the Daily Caller, will handle the business side of the operation.
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