Will ViacomCBS launch a conservative-leaning TV channel to battle Fox News?
None of the"amateurish" challengers to the Murdochs' cash-cow TV channel has the resources to compete, leaving a door open for a well-funded conglomerate to roll the dice.to launch a conservative-leaning TV channel to battle Fox News, but the mogul’s Viacom dipped its toe into the space Oct. 15.
It raises the question: Why hasn’t another TV conglomerate pulled the trigger on a competitor with wide cable distribution? Of course, there's inherent risk in any channel rebrand — a likely route for anyone looking to launch a major Fox News competitor — but not all have been as disastrous as AJA. Discovery found success rebranding its fledgling Discovery Health channel as The Oprah Winfrey Network, and it is planning a similar tactic for DIY Network, which will be taken over next year by Chip and Joanna Gaines, who will rebrand it the “Magnolia Network.
Among existing brands, Newsmax, OANN and Blaze have cable and satellite distribution, but they’re not rated by Nielsen, suggesting their audience on television is small. OANN president Charles Herring says Fox News thrives because it serves “often ignored middle America” but that its primetime lineup “has a fundamentally different voice than some day parts,” which Fox News acknowledges by stressing its news is distinct from its opinion shows.
LaCorte argues "there's a bit of room to the right of Fox. Many people think it's all-Trump TV, but you can see how a few liberal contributors or anti-Trump stories can rile up the president." That's one reason President Donald Trump has tweeted of his love for One America, while Larry Kudlow, the director of Trump's National Economic Council, has praised Newsmax.
In 2019, "it would be very hard for anybody to replicate Murdoch’s feat,” says Pitney. “It would cost a huge amount of money to acquire the infrastructure and personnel necessary to cover news in a serious way.” And LaCorte opines that the ideal time for a meaningful competitor on TV may have passed. "Fox’s biggest weakness was shortly after it lost Bill O’Reilly and Greta Van Susteren.
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