Fox News to launch paid, "over-the-top" streaming service later this year

[Travis B]

For those folks who have always thought Fox News is too liberally biased and staffed by a bunch of RINOs, you're in luck.

https://www.theverge.com/2018/2/20/1...tion-announced

Fox News is planning to launch a paid video streaming service later this year, the company announced today. Actually, Fox News describes it as an “over-the-top opinion platform” called Fox Nation. The popular network is being careful not to advertise this as a live stream of Fox News Channel — because it’s very much not that.

Fox Nation won’t feature current FNC programming. It won’t even have reruns, according to The New York Times. The platform “will take a deep dive into the big issues of the day with live exclusive daily streaming content and long-form programming available only to subscribers,” says the company. Users will also be able to stream “exclusive events” and over 20 years worth of archival Fox News Channel content “not available anywhere else.” The network’s “popular opinion hosts and personalities” will appear on the service; Fox News Channel is still deciding on how much to charge, but plans to implement interactive features like polls and Q&A sessions.

Again, notice the emphasis on opinion there. Fox News is creating a second destination for viewers who can’t get enough of the network’s conservative-leaning slant. It also seems questionable to me whether news-focused anchors like Chris Wallace and Shepard Smith will appear on this platform. Think more along the lines of Fox & Friends and Hannity.

“We are proud to announce a new digital offering geared entirely toward the FOX News superfans, who represent the most loyal audience in cable, if not all of television,” said John Finley, the network’s senior VP of development and production. “This initiative will capitalize on providing that viewer, who is among the most affluent and well educated in cable, with a highly specialized content experience on a platform they can watch anytime, anywhere.”

But they won’t get the core Fox News Channel itself! Similar to ESPN, which is launching an “ESPN Plus” subscription service this year that won’t include its banner cable network, Fox News Channel remains beholden to its contractual agreements with cable and satellite providers. Those deals still bring back far too much money to shake up the model. Fox News Channel appears on numerous internet TV services with the main exception of Dish’s Sling TV, so it’s certainly possible to get the network’s live programming without a traditional cable package. Other TV networks such as CBS have included their main live programming as part of a subscription that’s separate from cable.

The launch of a “standalone opinion streaming service” (again, Fox News Channel’s words) is something that competitors like CNN and MSNBC haven’t done to this point. Both still require cable/satellite/internet TV login authentication to stream much of their live content and haven’t experimented much with a separate, over-the-top service.

Fox News is not included in Disney’s blockbuster purchase that covers most of 21st Century Fox assets such as film and TV studios. Instead, it will remain part of a much slimmer 21st Century Fox after the pending deal closes.

[Edge-]

But...Fox News is already an "over the top opinion platform".

So they're going to be charging for a subscription to propaganda now? That's a bold, but probably safe, move for them.

[Cthulhu 2020]

It's almost like there's a booming market for people who guzzle garbage news.

[Machismo]

I think this may be more about seeing the writing on the walls. Fox gave up any semblance of being a news outlet a long time ago. They see the cord cutters, and they know that streaming is the future. they will be able to diversify their revenue stream, and focus on what their viewers actually want, political propaganda that fits their world view.

[Cthulhu 2020]

But...Fox News is already an "over the top opinion platform".

So they're going to be charging for a subscription to propaganda now? That's a bold, but probably safe, move for them.

I wouldn't even call it bold. There's a lack of "main stream" news channel that deep throat Trump's cock so far that foreskin pops out of their ass. Breitbart and infowars are there to sate the needs of people like that but they're just alternative media for alternative fact driven people.

[zorkuus]

Did they find out Fox has one or two viewers under the age of 75 and this move is to ensure the old timers a safe space? That alt-right stuff's a bit too liberal for their taste.

[Wyrt]

Aw, the Fox viewers need a safe space from Shep Smith?

[Poopymonster]

Did they find out Fox has one or two viewers under the age of 75 and this move is to ensure the old timers a safe space? That alt-right stuff's a bit too liberal for their taste.

The old timers have to have some reason to have their grandkids come over. "To set up this interweb tubes" because they won't come over otherwise, since they'll end up having to hear the latest Faux News screeching.

[Elegiac]

Did they find out Fox has one or two viewers under the age of 75 and this move is to ensure the old timers a safe space? That alt-right stuff's a bit too liberal for their taste.

Can old timers actually afford a paid streaming service?

Do they even know how streaming works?

[Wyrt]

Can old timers actually afford a paid streaming service?

Do they even know how streaming works?

I'm sure their social security checks can pay for it while they listen to people bitch about welfare.

[Deleted]

I guess they are losing out to alternative right wing media.

[Kujako]

But...Fox News is already an "over the top opinion platform".

But currently, due to FCC laws pertaining to broadcast television, they have to have at least a half hour a day of actual news. With an online service, they can say anything they want and call it "news".

[Solarnova]

Sounds good if you're looking forward to watching some good o'l Hannity & Colmes from years ago.

[pathora44]

Sounds good if you're looking forward to watching some good o'l Hannity & Colmes from years ago.

Ah you mean a show where Hannity could beat and berate Colmes as a punching bag with a piece of paper on his face that says liberal.

[Elegiac]

But currently, due to FCC laws pertaining to broadcast television, they have to have at least a half hour a day of actual news. With an online service, they can say anything they want and call it "news".

Oh good, we can start taking any arguments supported by a Fox source as illegitimate on the face of it.

Wait...

[Snorkles]

Haven't a lot of Fox talking heads been pushing the whole Fake News narrative (Hannity definitely has).

Call me a cynic but telling your viewers that all other news is fake and then offering an over the top paid service to get more news seems shady as fuck.

[Bullettime]

Haven't a lot of Fox talking heads been pushing the whole Fake News narrative (Hannity definitely has).

Call me a cynic but telling your viewers that all other news is fake and then offering an over the top paid service to get more news seems shady as fuck.

It doesn't have to make sense. They have a subsection of the US eating out of the palm of their hand with a smile on their face. It's not about true news or news that makes sense, it's about reinforcing their ignorant world view.

[vondevon]

But...Fox News is already an "over the top opinion platform".

So they're going to be charging for a subscription to propaganda now? That's a bold, but probably safe, move for them.

I got the impression Fox is looking to make a platform in the same vein as AM talk radio (like AM-640, i.e. Rush Limbaugh)

Which is actually pretty worrisome to me, given the nature of the content they plan to publish on it, because it's a shockingly-successful platform. Listening to grievance-based, emotionally-charged "opinion streaming" in an isolated, intimate setting (like in the car, via headphones, etc.) is a good way to wreck your personality. People get busy, they listen to "stay in touch" but wind up letting the commentator do all of the reasoning for them, and come away with tailored opinions (often extremely vitriolic to boot)

[Edge-]

I got the impression Fox is looking to make a platform in the same vein as AM talk radio (like AM-640, i.e. Rush Limbaugh)

Which is actually pretty worrisome to me, given the nature of the content they plan to publish on it, because it's a shockingly-successful platform. Listening to grievance-based, emotionally-charged "opinion streaming" in an isolated, intimate setting (like in the car, via headphones, etc.) is a good way to wreck your personality. People get busy, they listen to "stay in touch" but wind up letting the commentator do all of the reasoning for them, and come away with tailored opinions (often extremely vitriolic to boot)

Probably going after the audience that many alt-right personalities have found on YouTube and elsewhere. Fox knows they can only rely on an aging population to watch their shows for so long, those folks are eventually going to kick the bucket and they'll need to find a new audience. So they're exploring where younger, more profitable audiences are. Whether or not they'll find an audience behind the paywall with all the freely available alt-right content readily available, who knows (well, media experts probably!). But it's a play that makes a lot of sense for them, especially since opinion rather than news has always been the primary driver for success at Fox.

[Wyrt]

But currently, due to FCC laws pertaining to broadcast television, they have to have at least a half hour a day of actual news. With an online service, they can say anything they want and call it "news".

Oh, that's why Shep Smith is still employed at Fox, he has to do the actual news for them.

Also explains why Fox viewers hate him so much.