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comment by am_Unition
am_Unition  ·  583 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Fox caves in to half of dominion damage request.Runs from fact-based trial

I dunno, I think we could be about to learn some truly heinous Tucker Carlson things through the Abby Grossberg suit:

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2023/04/tucker-carlson-has-left-fox-news.html





kleinbl00  ·  582 days ago  ·  link  ·  

    Carlson has told people he believes his controversial show is being taken off the air because the Murdoch children intend to sell Fox News at some point.

who are they gonna sell it to

Pure spitballing here. No knowledge, no analysis. But some facts:

1) Fox News is not profitable without cable carry fees. They have effectively zero advertisers. Brands don't give a shit about you after 35 because you're never going to stop using Tide, you're always going to eat Rice Crispies. NO ONE under 35 is ever going to watch Fox News.

2) Fox News is the legaciest of legacy media. Even newspapers have websites now but cable news? (1) you have to pay for it (2) it just sorta spools out at whatever it's pointed at (3) it has absolutely no tail (4) there are no secondary or tertiary markets (5) you're really only as good as your investigative journalism or your pundits.

3) Fox News has zero investigative journalism and its pundits exist solely for angry white men over sixty.

What, exactly, are the assets of Fox News? What items under the masthead have value? I would have assumed Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham. I mean fuck they already cut Lou Dobbs loose. But then I consider the shelf life of post-Fox Megyn Kelly and mmmmaybe? Maybe none of them are worth a fuckin' thing?

Look at the list. There's a lot of stuff there that does not cause the Murdochs a lot of grief. They can be nice and sub-rosa about their leanings and influence things however they want. And then there's Fox News, which is already costing them an $800m charge. There's another lawsuit down the pike that's probably not going to be much cheaper.

Maybe they're looking to mark down the loss and move on?

Fox Corp has lost a billion dollars in market cap in four months. I don't know who they'd unload it to? But I think Tucker's right - I think Fox is gearing up to unload it.

kleinbl00  ·  582 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Heather Cox Richardson with an observation I didn't think of:

    Insurers on the hook for large settlements are likely to demand that Fox clean up its act, especially with Trump running for office again and likely back in the media lineup.
b_b  ·  583 days ago  ·  link  ·  

They’ll settle that suit too. This is a beast with many heads.

am_Unition  ·  583 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I hope you're wrong, but I doubt it. Or at least hopefully Grossberg refuses an NDA clause.