On Tuesday, Dominion Voting Systems settled its lawsuit against Fox News for $787.5 million. What comes next can be summed up in four words: beware and be aware.
“Beware” because Fox News is about to burn brighter and hotter. If you thought the network was bad before it settled Dominion’s defamation suit, let me assure you: You ain’t seen nothing yet. “Be aware” because we are in the midst of a very brief moment to actually hold Fox News accountable.
Regardless of what you think of the settlement, it is a significant sum of money; it is a significant portion of Fox News’ annual profits. But this alone isn’t enough of a financial hit to reorient the network’s estranged relationship with the truth.
The impact of Dominion’s lawsuit was always going to be limited because of Fox’s ultimate weapon: cable carriage fees.
Would a trial at which Fox figures were forced to publicly account for their deliberate lies have further undermined Fox’s position and weakened its destructive influence? Absolutely. But neither a trial nor a financial award from Dominion’s lawsuit would change Fox all by themselves, no matter how painful.
The impact of Dominion’s lawsuit was always going to be limited because of Fox’s ultimate weapon: cable carriage fees.
The dirty secret about Fox News is that it is one of the only commercial TV channels that doesn’t need a single advertisement to be profitable, if not the only one. In fact, Fox could have zero dollars in ad revenue and still have at least a 35% profit margin. This is the result of carriage fees and the guaranteed revenue they provide Fox.
Various networks are paid carriage fees for every cable subscriber; the fees are negotiated between cable providers and the companies. Some channels receive no fees. Others, like ESPN, receive multiple dollars per subscriber. These fees are passed on to consumers, meaning every time a provider agrees to pay a network higher fees, its customers’ bills go up.
During…
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