Listen to Media Matters' Angelo Carusone explain how the Dominion lawsuit could impact Fox News’ cable contract negotiations
Carusone: “Cable companies pay so much money for them which, of course, gets passed down to all of the subscribers”
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Listen to Media Matters' Angelo Carusone explain how the Dominion lawsuit could impact Fox News’ cable contract negotiations
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From the April 13, 2023, edition of Sirius XM's The Michael Signorile Show
MICHELANGELO SIGNORILE (HOST): It's now just barrel through and hope for the best but they could be facing maybe $1.6 billion and whatever other, you know, ramifications. What happens to Fox after that? They have insurance. They're obviously filled with a lot of money. What happens?
ANGELO CARUSONE (GUEST): What happens will depend on us. You know, the thing that I would point out is this incredible bad luck for Fox News. While this trial is unfolding, they are renegotiating their largest cable contract with Xfinity and Comcast and they're renegotiating two other cable contracts at the same time. And they're not just trying to renew, they're trying to get a really big increase in cable companies. They need that money to continue their profitability.
That's the dirty secret about Fox. They're the only commercial media channel that does not need a single commercial. They could have zero dollars in ad revenue. They'd still have a 58% profit margin and that's because they're so expensive. Cable companies pay so much money for them which, of course, gets passed down to all of the subscribers. They overpay. Fox now needs to make this argument from a business perspective that they are worth more to these cable companies and that's a tough sell. They chipped away One America News. I think it's unlikely for them to do that.
To your question: Look, the money matters. And if they're not able to renew at that rate, they will experience additional rattling, additional consequences. They may have to change their coverage a little bit to care more about advertisers. But the short of it is that nothing will change at Fox unless in some way, the money gets choked off a little bit and that shareholders, the public, the rest of the media finally sort of drop the veneer and treat Fox the way we treat Infowars.