The Gentleman Report
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Elon Musk has referred to as MSNBC “the utter scum of the Earth.” He has mentioned the channel “peddles puerile propaganda.” Only some days in the past he mentioned, “MSNBC is taking place.” And now he’s posting memes about purchasing the channel.
Standard knowledge holds that Musk — the arena’s richest guy and key Donald Trump best friend — and his pals are simply joking. However Musk’s posts are including to the anxiousness that MSNBC staffers are feeling concerning the reelection of Donald Trump and the lately introduced derivative of Comcast’s cable channels.
I spent Sunday at the telephone with assets to gauge what may well be happening. I discovered that a couple of benevolent billionaire with liberal bonafides has already reached out to acquaintances at MSNBC to specific hobby in purchasing the cable channel. The inbound hobby used to be reassuring, one of the crucial assets mentioned, because it confirmed that oppositional figures like Musk (who famously purchased Twitter to blow it up) would now not be the one attainable suitors.
However opposite to claims that Trump’s allies are posting on X, Comcast has now not put a “on the market” signal on MSNBC’s door. If Comcast leader Brian Roberts in reality sought after to promote the liberal cable information channel, he can have achieved that already. As a substitute, he’s shifting MSNBC and a part dozen different cable channels into “SpinCo,” a pure-play cable programming corporate. The hope is that spinning off the pressured-but-profitable channels will spice up stocks of each Comcast and “SpinCo.”
Comcast says the transaction will take a couple of yr. At that time, may just anyone swoop in with a bid for MSNBC? It’s difficult. “SpinCo” is structured as a tax-free derivative, and in an instant divesting an asset would have tax implications that might prevent such a sale.
“Generally, we’d be expecting a two-year ready duration sooner than any attainable additional strategic motion by means of the SpinCo to maintain the tax-free nature of the spin despite the fact that we consider there are eventualities the place business consolidation together with SpinCo may just occur previous,” analyst Benjamin Swinburne of Morgan Stanley wrote in a observe to buyers ultimate week. (Morgan Stanley is a monetary marketing consultant to Comcast.)
Plus, “SpinCo” executives might smartly conclude that offloading MSNBC isn’t in the most efficient hobby of shareholders, because the channel’s dependable target audience is a type of leverage in negotiations with cable vendors. Executives concerned with the derivative say they intend to be predators, now not prey – purchasing new channels, now not promoting off previous ones little by little.
Promoting MSNBC to win prefer with the president-elect is solely now not the plan. I’ve sensed reasonably slightly of enthusiasm at MSNBC about “SpinCo,” in reality, since the new construction must permit for extra funding into MSNBC, CNBC and the opposite manufacturers.
That mentioned, Musk’s posts shouldn’t be unnoticed. He famously foreshadowed his pursuit of Twitter with a tweet that requested, “How a lot is it?” On Friday, he in a similar fashion requested of MSNBC, “How a lot does it price?” He used to be responding to Donald Trump, Jr., who posted a meme that (falsely) mentioned MSNBC is on the market and wrote, “Good day @elonmusk I’ve the funniest concept ever!!!”
Joe Rogan jumped in and mentioned, “If you purchase MSNBC I would really like Rachel Maddow’s activity.” (He misspelled her identify.) “I will be able to put on the similar outfit and glasses, and I will be able to inform the similar lies.” The trio’s enthusiasts ate it up, and Musk saved posting concerning the concept all weekend lengthy, at one level selling a homophobic meme that equated Maddow with Mark Cuban.
By way of Sunday, Trump Jr. wrote, “I feel I began one thing right here. The quantity of people who need this to occur is improbable!!!!” Former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz answered, “I 100% need this to occur.” The mockery is the purpose, and perhaps it’s not anything greater than that.
Whilst Musk and his pals industry memes and crack every different up, there’s a significant undercurrent right here. It’s referred to as “media seize.” This came about in Hungary when far-right top minister Viktor Orbán’s “shut allies additionally bought non-public tv and radio shops to transform them into pro-government shops,” The Gentleman Report reported previous this month.
“Media seize” is a subset of what Give protection to Democracy govt director Ian Bassin calls “autocratic seize,” the place “the federal government makes use of its energy to put in force loyalty from the personal sector.” On a up to date episode of Self-importance Truthful’s “Throughout the Hive,” Bassin mentioned “I feel we’re at risk of seeing that occur around the American market in all forms of sectors.”
Gábor Scheiring, a former member of the Hungarian parliament, wrote in a brand new essay for Politico Mag that Orbán “consolidated media regulate thru centralized propaganda, marketplace drive and constant billionaires.” In the United States, he wrote, “liberal-minded billionaires must now not sit down idly by means of as they did in Hungary, gazing the fitting take over the media.”
Would Cuban, a key billionaire surrogate for Vice President Kamala Harris, have any hobby in MSNBC? I requested him Sunday evening. “I don’t assume there may be anything else any person can do to modify the have an effect on of linear TV information. So the solution isn’t any,” Cuban answered. “Other people really feel like MSNBC isn’t doing sufficient to rival Fox. I don’t see that. What may just they do another way? Manufacture conspiracy theories? Move all in on crypto?”
Cuban added: “I’d slightly advertise Bluesky and hope it is helping them mixture target audience, and create a community impact that provides company to all viewpoints. I feel with the addition of actual time information and sports activities, it will give Twitter a run for its cash.”
