(Headline USA) Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson promised that his forthcoming streaming service would “tell the unadorned truth” to fans for $72 a year in an announcement Monday.
Big media companies manipulate you. So we’ve built something new, something relentlessly honest that the corporate gatekeepers can’t touch: Tucker Carlson Network, where we’ll provide facts and honesty, every day. You can join us at https://t.co/sLkXnGLauL. I hope you will.
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) December 11, 2023
Commentary, interviews, Carlson-flavored news reports and documentaries, even an advice show will be offered on the Tucker Carlson Network, which is essentially staffed by the people who used to work for him at Fox.
Rumors about the long-awaited venture have swirled for more than seven months since Fox abruptly fired Carlson, its most popular host.
The network never publicly explained the firing, and Carlson said on Monday that “it really is one of those mysteries that I’ll probably never get to the bottom of.”
However, Fox executives likely faced pressure from woke shareholder BlackRock over Carlson’s skepticism of Ukraine in particular. Rumors of a falling out with founder Rupert Murdoch, who recently stepped down from his role overseeing the network, likely compounded the strain on the relationship.
However, Carlson seemed to confirm that he, too, was chafing under the editorial constraints that the network was imposing on him due to corporate pressures that conflicted with his journalistic integrity.
“I want to wake up and say to myself, ‘You can say whatever you want,’” Carlson said, announcing his streaming service on the Megyn Kelly Show, a podcast and radio show hosted by fellow Fox News refugee Kelly, who has remade her career as an independent commentator.
“I’m going to do it without interference, period,” Carlson said.
“I’m going to tell the unadorned truth,” he continued. “I hope gently and in the least offensive way as I possibly can, but I’m going to tell the truth until the day I die.”
Carlson and Kelly then proceeded touch on a taboo topic that would quickly have been censored by their former network: the possibility of widespread riots if former President Donald Trump is convicted in a politically motivated lawfare campaign waged by the corrupt Biden administration.
🔥🔥🔥@TuckerCarlson on @megynkelly @MegynKellyShow gives dire warning about 2024 election…
“You’re rigging the election. And they did that. So, if you keep doing that, and people are like…
“And you’re gonna get violence if you keep this shit up. That’s just the truth.” pic.twitter.com/u7XElmDqbt
— Amy Kremer (@AmyKremer) December 12, 2023
A Wide Array of Programming
Before being bounced, less than a week after Fox agreed to pay Dominion Voting Systems $787 million to settle a lawsuit over coverage of the 2020 election, Carlson hosted, by some measures, the most successful show in cable TV history.
He averaged 3.2 million viewers a night for the first three months of 2023, according to the Nielsen company. Fox’s ratings plunged immediately following his exit. Replacement Jesse Watters built the audience to 2.6 million in November in Carlson’s old time slot, and Fox said Watters has gained advertisers who didn’t want their commercials with Carlson.
Now Carlson enters the world of subscription services with a variety of products on his own network.
“The Tucker Carlson Encounter” will be a long-form conversation show, with singer Kid Rock and golfer John Daly among the first guests.
“The Tucker Carlson Interview” will be a more formal question-and-answer session, like one he conducted recently with former President Donald Trump.
Both of those programs will be offered free on his website, at least at first, while material of his observations on “After The Tucker Carlson Interview” will be behind a paywall.
“Tucker Carlson Uncensored” will be similar to the opening monologue he aired on his Fox show, while “Tucker Carlson Films” will produce documentaries like he made for the Fox Nation online service.
The show “Ask Tucker Carlson” will feature the host answering questions from subscribers and giving advice.
Carlson told Kelly that while he’s “psyched to vote for Trump” in the 2024 election, he didn’t see himself as a potential vice presidential candidate, as some published reports have speculated.
“It’s just so unimaginable,” he said. “I haven’t led a life that prepares people for politics.”
But despite Kelly’s prodding, Carlson didn’t rule the idea out.
Megyn Kelly Predicts Tucker Carlson Will 'Probably' Be Elected President https://t.co/UG08jZZaF9
— Mediaite (@Mediaite) December 12, 2023
Carlson had partnered with Twitter, for content after leaving Fox. He’ll still post material there, branded under his network, but said he determined the Elon Musk-owned platform didn’t have the capacity to help him build out the service he needed.
Fox had no immediate comment on Carlson’s venture, or whether it would violate a contract with the host that reportedly ran through next year’s election.
Neil Patel, Carlson’s former college roommate who launched the Daily Caller website with him in 2010, will be CEO of the new network, running business operations.
Justin Wells, Carlson’s former executive producer who was fired from Fox with him in April, will oversee content.
“I feel happy,” Carlson told Kelly. “I feel liberated.”
Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press
