Tucker Carlson Launches Paid Streaming Service

Facts

• Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson has launched a streaming service, called the Tucker Carlson Network (TCN), offering subscriptions of $9 per month or $72 per year. In addition to films and short-form content, the service will offer three shows with new episodes each week: 'The Tucker Carlson Encounter,' which will be accessible without a subscription; 'Tucker Carlson Uncensored;' and 'Ask Tucker,' where subscribers can ask questions.¹
• In a video posted to X on Saturday — the platform formerly called Twitter and where Carlson has been streaming interviews since he left Fox in April — Carlson said he's spent the majority of the last year working on interviews and other content for the website, tuckercarlson.com. He also joked that 'time flies when you're unemployed.'²
• Carlson, whose audience while at Fox was twice that of his competitors at CNN and MSNBC, is hoping some of his 11M followers on X will pay the subscription. He also said he would continue to post free content on X, which has recently included Alex Jones and former President Donald Trump.³
• Carlson's former roommate at Trinity College in Connecticut, Neil Patel, will serve as TCN's Chief Executive Officer, with his former executive producer at Fox News, Justin Wells, serving as president overseeing all programming. Carlson and Patel, who together created the conservative news site The Daily Caller in 2010, have lined up lawyers, strategists, and financiers for TCN, including investment firm 1789 Capital.⁴
• 1789 Capital, owned by banker Omeed Malik, invested $15M in the venture, with the website run by the company Last Country Inc., which was founded by Carlson and Patel. Carlson claimed X was unable to meet the full functional requirements for his streaming service, but he said he will still make free content available on the social media platform.⁵
• However, TCN said it does have an advertising deal with X. Furthermore, Red Seat Ventures, the company that helped other former Fox hosts Megyn Kelly and Bill O'Reilly launch their own media companies, is selling much of TCN's advertising for the podcast.⁴

Sources: ¹Forbes, ²Washington examiner, ³CBS, ⁴Wall Street Journal and ⁵Guardian.

Narratives

• Left narrative, as provided by Washington post. Tucker Carlson isn't the truth-to-power media rebel he claims the be. In reality, he's the man who made Fox News lose a defamation case over Dominion Voting Systems. Now, he's launching a media company to prop up conspiracy theorists like Alex Jones. Carlson has and continues to profit off of tragedy and lies. It remains to be seen how successful his company will be with such volatile content.
• Right narrative, as provided by Daily Caller. The establishment media, whether on the left or the right, doesn't understand that Tucker understands his audience better than they do. He understands the growing demand for uncensored political content from younger people, as well as the need to cover both the traditional short-form news show audience alongside the younger long-form audience. In doing so, Tucker is shining a light on voices no one else will. This streaming venture shows all the signs of being a massive success.