Take my network, please.
Well, those are not exactly the words TMZ used as it discusses the courtship of Tucker Carlson by the conservative media outlet Newsmax, but it is reporting that Newsmax wants to give Carlson more than just a show as a way to attract him.
The TMZ report is based on what it called “sources with direct knowledge” and said Newsmax is “floating the idea of letting him program the whole channel, not just his own show.”
From a ratings perspective, as TMZ noted, who precedes and follows a show can have a lot to do with the size of any given show’s audience.
With Carlson still in the middle of exiting Fox, there are no offers on the table, but the report said that “network execs have made it clear to people around him, they would basically give him a big say in rebranding their channel.”
According to the Times of San Diego, an online news outlet, San Diego-based One America News might be willing to pay $25 million to Carlson if he would come aboard to join its network.
“It would be great if we could get Tucker! I might give him around $25 million,” OAN CEO and founder Robert Herring told the outlet in an email, the Times of San Diego reported. “And he would be well worth that.”
Glenn Beck has said that Carlson could find a home at his BlazeTV, according to CBS.
“We would love to have you here. You won’t miss a beat. And together, the two of us will tear it up. Just tear it up,” Beck said Monday.
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The TMZ report said that wherever Carlson lands “it’s going to be big, disruptive, and will create a seismic shift in the conservative media landscape.”
A report in The New York Times noted that a shift is already underway.
The audience size of some Newsmax prime-time shows has jumped since Fox booted Carlson.
For example, the week before Carlson’s ouster, Eric Bolling’s 8 p.m. show on Newsmax drew 146,000 viewers while going head-to-head with Carlson. Last week, Bolling had 531,000 viewers and upped that on Tuesday to 562,000, putting his show at what the Times said was 80 percent of Anderson Cooper’s CNN audience that night.
Newsmax chief executive Christopher Ruddy said his network and Fox are going in different directions.
“Fox has been moving to embrace more of an establishment position,” he said.
“They want to renounce some of the Trumpisms and populist MAGA stuff that Tucker was echoing,” he continued.
Ruddy said Newsmax would be happy to talk with Carlson, but indicated he expects Carlson might opt for a podcast when he returns to the media wars.
