Carlson and business partner Neil Patel are avoiding YouTube as a host platform due to censorship concerns.
QUICK FACTS:
- Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson and former White House adviser and Daily Caller publisher Neil Patel are fundraising to start a new media company.
- The pair are considering using Twitter as the host platform, but are also looking at other social media platforms as well.
- The business would be rooted in longer versions of the videos Carlson currently releases on Twitter, but would ultimately rely on a subscription service, according to people familiar with the situation.
- Shortened content would continue to be free without a subscription, but users would need to pay to watch the content in its entirety.
- Carlson and Patel’s company would also have its own website and app.
- Those involved in the matter also said Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino recently met with Carlson’s producer Justin Wells to continue discussions.
MUSK SEEKS TO EXPAND TWITTER FEATURES:
- Twitter owner Elon Musk has previously said that he hopes the platform adopts several creators, including Tucker Carlson.
- In May, Musk tweeted that should Carlson decide to move forward with Twitter, he would be “subject to the same rules & rewards of all content creators.”
- “Rewards means subscriptions and advertising revenue share (coming soon), which is a function of how many people subscribe and the advertising views associated with the content,” the tweet continued. “I hope that many others, particularly from the left, also choose to be content creators on this platform.”
- Several of the matters discussed between Carlson’s team and Twitter employees included the readiness and accessibility of several features to make it easier to view the content.
- For instance, Twitter recently allowed those who pay for Twitter Blue to post longer videos.
- Musk also said changes to the platform make it easier to watch Twitter videos on a television screen through screen mirroring instead of being limited to a mobile device.
- Twitter also recently launched an ad-revenue-sharing program for creators, as hinted in the tweet.
- Should Carlson and Patel choose to align themselves with Twitter, the business would act as a test run for the social media site’s video features.
BACKGROUND:
- Fox News sent a cease-and-desist order to Tucker Carlson in response to the former host’s Twitter series while he was still under contract with Fox.
- Carlson said he had the right to post on Twitter under the First Amendment.
- “Doubling down on the most catastrophic programming decision in the history of the cable news industry, Fox is now demanding that Tucker Carlson be silent until after the 2024 election,” Harmeet Dhillon and Bryan Freedman, who represent Carlson legally, stated.
- Dhillon added, “Tucker will not be silenced by anyone … He is a singularly important voice on matters of public interest in our country, and will remain so.”
