Is It Really "Business As Usual" At RightNetwork?
August 15, 2011 4:05 pm ET by Joe Strupp & Ben Dimiero
RightNetwork, the conservative media outlet that launched less than a year ago with great fanfare -- and investors that included actor Kelsey Grammer -- appears to have stalled for more than a month.
RightNetwork.com, which features video and other content, has not been updated since late June, and the network's Twitter feed and Facebook pages have been stagnant since May 31.
RightNetwork President Kevin McFeeley claims it is "business as usual," an answer he gave several times when asked specifically about a lack of new programming and web items, as well as about the status of the network's future funding.
But from the looks of the site, launched Sept. 8, 2010, things appear to be at a standstill.
The most recent videos on RightNetwork's website appear to be several Father's Day messages from soldiers posted on June 17.
The top of RightNetwork's website still features an episode of Drive Thru History, a video series produced by Dallas-based ColdWaterMedia, that was posted May 31.
Blogger Jim Hoft, whose presence at RightNetwork seemingly drove plenty of traffic to their site, inexplicably jumped ship on June 7, offering this notice on his GatewayPundit.com blog:
I also want to thank Right Network for hosting me these last 6 months.
Asked why RightNetwork's website hadn't been updated in more than a month, McFeeley -- who spoke with Media Matters Aug. 4 -- said: "Our social media guy accepted an offer somewhere else, so, you know, we're trying to replace him. But, It's just business as usual."
When pressed on the issue, McFeeley insisted that while RightNetwork's Twitter feed hadn't been updated, the network had released new videos since late June, adding, "And like I said, the guy who was tasked with that responsibility left us about a month ago."
Asked to clarify which videos had supposedly been posted since June, McFeeley refused to give specifics:
MEDIA MATTERS: What videos were updated? It looks like the latest was Father's Day.
McFEELEY: There's been some other videos since then. We're still actively fundraising and it's business as usual over at RightNetwork.
MEDIA MATTERS: Can I ask what the last video was just so we can see?
McFEELEY: I couldn't answer that. All I can tell you is the guy who was tasked with that hasn't been with us for about a month.
Asked whether other things on RightNetwork's website had been updated in the last month, McFeeley replied, "Again, I don't know, it's not my responsibility."
But later in the interview, McFeeley acknowledged, "You can see for yourself that it's not refreshing the way it was."
Asked what "kind of fundraising" the network was currently engaged in, McFeeley responded, "We are actively fundraising. I think that's really kind of the message we want to put out there."
When the network launched last year, it touted itself as a conservative media alternative and vowed to have content for its website, mobile phones, and video on demand. According to a Sept. 8, 2010, Associated Press story:
It is initially making programming available through video-on-demand services, the Internet and through mobile phones, bypassing the route of traditional TV networks with a spot on channel lineups.
Investors hope that the support of a conservative audience that has made Fox News Channel and radio hosts such as Rush Limbaugh successful could also work for entertainment programming, said Kevin McFeeley, RightNetwork's president.
"We feel the precedent has been set," he said.
Grammer, the Emmy-winning star of "Frasier," said the network represented a desire by him and some political friends "to stop allowing people who hate us to define us."
"If you have NBC, ABC, you have entire networks flooded with a very particular point of view," he said. "They won't admit it, but it's clearly the way it is. There's plenty of room for us."
RightNetwork's website includes a list of outlets that were to provide its programming, for example: Verizon FiOS, ITunes, Hulu, and Amazon.com.
A check of those outlets finds ITunes and Amazon.com are still offering digital videos of some RightNetwork shows for sale, but none of them date beyond 2010.
A Verizon FiOS spokesperson confirmed it still offers some RightNetwork programs on demand, but had no information about what their popularity has been.
A Media Matters check of Verizon FiOS last week found a list of RightNetwork shows and episodes still available, but none that were released after 2010.
Hulu has online access to four RightNetwork programs, with the most recent episode dated February 2011.
McFeeley said the company is still seeking funds and "actively fundraising," but had no specifics about funding or new investment.
"We're just speaking with folks about investing in the company and the concept," he said. "That's just sort of business as usual."
Kivi Rogers, a comedian who had worked on a comedy sketch show for RightNetwork in 2010, hinted that funding problems were already appearing last year. He also appeared in the premiere of a stand-up show on RightNetwork called Right2Laugh. RightNetwork's website has three episodes of Right2Laugh, the most recent of which was posted in December 2010.
He said the comedy show only produced a pilot that was never posted or broadcast anywhere.
After first agreeing to work on the comedy show in May 2010, Rogers said several months of production went into the show before the pilot was shot in September 2010. But he said the production disbanded in late November 2010 due to financial constraints.
"The funding kind of went away," he recalls, offering no specifics. "They were telling me they were waiting for these big investments to come in -- these big investors... that part never came through."
Among the initial investors was Ed Snider, chairman of Comcast-Spectacor of Philadelphia. Asked for comment, his office referred questions to McFeeley, stating in an e-mail that Snider "is merely an investor and would prefer to have Kevin speak about the network."
McFeeley offered no information on how RightNetwork is operating beyond the website, or even how many employees it has.
Asked when the website might be updated, he said:
"Keep posted, keep checking back and you'll know as soon as it's new."
Jess Levin contributed to this report.
But thats the trouble. You CANT fake this. faking crazy is impossible because you inevitably put patterns that make sense in some context in.
Did you ever think of THAT, Mr. Librul Fancypants?
Yeah -- kind of like a root beer that's been sitting in the sun for six hours.
Grammer also produces two Black TV shows, "Girlfriends" and "The Game". One day on the show "Girlfriends" a female character told her white husband on her knees that she was a bad slave and to beat her. This is the mindset of the right.
I mean I hope they actually know what they were doing there, as in they know how it looks bad, well I haven't seen it so I could be imagining it in a different way, I presume its a comedy?, anyway that's instantly put an idea in my head for something I'm working on. Thanks
Sorry I stopped watching TV around 2004. Is this some kind of joke or meme im not getting? Also why would anyone be on such a show? Unless you threaten violence against politicians and children due to disagreement in economic policy, you get no notoriety on the right.
...Also who watches TV anymore? Why?
If Grammar wants to be a right winger in real life, I guess that's his business. But as a TV fan from way back, I have to say, "Long live Frasier!"
Im still waiting for my apology. Oh yes! Between the cartoons, the video games, and the Chernobyl mutants, and music videos, my entire generation has gone insane.
Two examples- "USA! USA! Is All Right By Me" and "Al Gore Caught in Snowstorm Is All Right By Me" tells me all I need to know about the intelligence level of the posters, who apparently aren't satisfied at The Blaze.
LOL (yeah - I wish!)
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IMHO
UTOPIA
Never heard of it.
hatewingnetwork.com......
Then, I decided to look at it. And found this completely idiotic video showing alleged "proof" that Obama's Birth Certificate (the "long form" one) is a fake....by opening it in a graphical editing program and supposedly being able to move the layers around... the biggest problem here is that this is a feature of the graphical editing program and moving the results of the automatic layering tool causes glaring graphical holes; the kind that showed up in his video.
Also, there are no layers in a JPG file. It's all one layer.
I clicked off RightNetwork right after that and had to wait five minutes to stop laughing.
Well needless to say, I read it, and frankly, I don't care about it. It was inevitable that it would fail. After all, most the people who watch Fox watch to see what bs they are talking about.
That can also be said of olbermann's new show.
one big problem they seem to have (had?) is that the source links provided in the various articles tend to contradict the bold headline assertions of the articles themselves. granted, i'm guessing most true believers aren't going to spend much time fact-checking the articles for accuracy, but those that do (did) might have become just a tad disenchanted with the whole premise, and stopped dropping by, reducing the hits scored by the site. this in turn would certainly reduce ad revenues.
let's be blunt here, the vast majority of really stupid people tend to also have limited disposable income, restricting there ability to financially support sites such as rightnetwork, when they've already spent their money on beck & limbaugh. hence, rightwatch bites the dust.
welcome to the wonderful world of capitalism.
(BTW-ColdWater Media is not Dallas based. Drive Thru History seems like a good show.)