(Robert Jonathan, Headline USA) Tucker Carlson’s plans to launch a new media company are reportedly taking shape in a seriously big way.
For the contemplated video channel, Carlson and close friend/business partner Neil Patel potentially intend to use, or continue to use, “Twitter as its backbone,” the Wall Street Journal reported, relying in its story on information from unnamed insiders.
The college buddies apparently aren’t doing it on the cheap, by any means.
To make this happen, the duo who were roommates at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn., are attempting to fundraise to the tune of “hundreds of millions of dollars” and “have lined up financiers, lawyers and media strategists to work on the new company.”
Carlson and Patel already have a joint-venture track record in that they co-founded the Daily Caller website.
According to the WSJ, “Carlson’s team met with a Twitter team in recent weeks to discuss the endeavor, people familiar with the matter said.
It added that “Carlson and Patel’s new company would also have its own website and mobile app, and is exploring other homes beyond Twitter for its content as well, some of the people said.”
The news outlet outlined the presumed trajectory of the Carlson company, which seems likely to be made available on a paid subscription basis.
“Users of Twitter and other platforms would still be able to watch free, shorter versions of his show, interviews and documentaries, but would need to subscribe to watch them in their entirety, the people said. The company would eventually add shows from additional hosts, they said.”
Twitter previously enabled content creators to post live streams on a popular internal app called Periscope, which was eventually shut down for whatever reason by the platform’s previous management.
It’s unclear if Elon Musk and Co. are contemplating bringing back Periscope, although the WSJ piece asserted that “Musk has said that expanding Twitter’s video features is part of his vision for the platform.”
The WSJ further explained that “[Carlson’s] new company’s potential partnership with Twitter would expand the relationship between the platform and one of its highest-profile video creators, and serve as a test case for the social media network’s video ambitions under Elon Musk.”
Carlson’s budding media empire appears to be coming into focus even as the legal wrangling with Fox News, his former TV home, over his contract status is yet to be resolved.
Fox has suffered significant viewership erosion since Tucker Carlson Tonight got abruptly cancelled, a development among many that continues to call in question the future viability of cable news, if not linear television generally.
He anchored the top-rated FNC show from remote studios near his Maine and Florida homes.
The WSJ article also mentioned that Carlson and Patel are “wary” of posting their content on YouTube over censorship concerns.
This is perhaps why various YouTubers from different genres with massive followings post some of their live streams and pre-recorded videos there and then encourage followers to go to, e.g., Rumble or Locals for additional, censorship-free content.
So far, Tucker on Twitter has posted nine installments, eight of which consisted of his signature monologues.
For number nine, Carlson flew to Romania for a long-form interview with controversial social media influencer Andrew Tate.
Carlson and Patel have not yet responded to media inquiries about the WSJ scoop.
Tucker Carlson is set to host a GOP presidential candidate forum Friday in Des Moines, Iowa.
Tucker’s ex-Fox News colleague Megyn Kelly, who launched a politics- and culture-related podcast after a failed attempt at becoming an NBC Today show daytime diva, currently has one-million-plus YouTube subscribers.
