Tucker Carlson, who was ousted from his Fox News program earlier this year, is going it alone via streaming.
The conservative provocateur will announce Monday that 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.” He is planning to reveal more details in an interview with Megyn Kelly on her SiriusXM radio program.
Carlson was the most-watched 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.
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.
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.
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 likely 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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