I am a DTV subscriber who watches Fox only to get an idea where the crazies get their info. That lasts for maybe 10 mins before I tear my hair and run in circles cussing. I have never, ever watched Carlson.
Those of us in rural America with no affordable fibre broadband use Satellite internet or none at all. There in lies the rub. We are never going to be streaming anything. I have my cable for pleasure. It kept me sane in the Pandemic. I have watched 150 movies in a little over a year.
Best thing to do is keep on the Fox advertising corporations for the other abhorrent talking heads. Write this down, DTV is going to keep Fox. Many of their subscribers would protest in the street if they didn't. The emergence of OAN and NewsMax guarantee the market for more evil from Fox.
We need people like Judd on CNN as guest hosts instead of some of the right wingers they have engaged. MSNBC needs company in the free speech arena.
My Daddy always said the best defence is a good offence and sometimes you have to fight fire with fire. The middle and left in this country need to step up their game against Fox and Carlson, etc. White Supremacists have been building for 50 years in rural, and underground America. Donald Trump offered up a reason to come out into the light.
I sincerely hope we can get good internet to all rural places so you will not have to make this difficult choice to tolerate something negative to get the positive you need so much. Get out the vote for that Infrastructure plan because rural places will truly benefit.
I have tried to respond to this. Technology Corps providers are a huge problem. Rural areas cost more to provide and there are fewer of us.My friend was offered Comcast only if he paid 30k to get it run less than 100 yards from the server. Yes. People in subdivisions get for about 100 bucks.
The larger problem is our country is divided more than ever rural vs urban population centers. It is affecting the politics of this country and our social interactions. Fox News is one of many places this shows up. 43 State Legislatures are run by the GOP in states that have large rural areas.
If it is available already in your area t-mobile now has a competitive 5G wireless offering for home internet. It has speeds well beyond what is needed for streaming and should offer competition to the monopolies that exist in many places.
That said many streaming tv services still have Fox. If you are looking for an option with any of the major national news or sports networks you will be stuck paying the Fox tax.
The idea that I am contributing even a penny to the loathsome Fox News just makes me want to gag. In particular, I despise Hannity and Carlson beyond belief.
1. Simple population growth also dilutes the weight of Carlson’s vote more so than does than immigrants on becoming citizens. (Interestingly, the right has issues with people who have a greater love of the nation than they do, like immigrants and POC.)
2. A thought experiment: you can take Carlson’s “voting right” argument and apply it to those states that receive more money and largesse from the federal government than they pay in — parasites, moochers, takers, who are predominantly white. So the fine white people are leeching money from this blue state resident whose state has been paying far more that it’s share to Washington in order to provide handouts to poor whites. So, I dunno. Looks like whites are a real economic problem for people in my position.
Thank you for this excellent column. I hope the momentum to stop paying cable fees to Fox grows. I will contact our local carrier to ask if they can offer a package without Fox "News."
Follow-up: I live in a smallish town in Ohio and we use our local cable coop for TV and internet. They didn't respond to an email I sent last week, so I called them this morning. Bottom line: Even though they purchase their packages with a group of other cable broadcasters, they are too small to create the packages they offer to customers. They have to buy what the major companies offer them. IF I really wanted to go without Fox news, I would have to downgrade to their Basic Package, with only local channels. This information comes from their Operations Manager. It's a very frustrating outcome as I like supporting the local cable company, but their hands are tied.
I never really considered how much carrier fees could prop up FOX News. I personally have cut the cord and I would encourage people to, if not prepared to do the same, make sure to share this information about how much they're spending a month to directly fund white nationalist propaganda.
I cut the cable cord several years ago and never looked back. I subscribe to premium channels a la carte. I can't think of any reason to sign up for bundled cable services in this day and age. I only pay now for the channels I want.
Having read the full article , I am completely shocked! I do not watch Fox, so this insight into Carlson has left me feeling quite ready to stop my cable and just do streaming. However, i do watch CNN, MSNBC, BBC, ETC. How will i keep them?
This article underscores the reason that I do not buy cable TV in my area. I stream what I want on line and have decided not to support any cable that carries Fox channels. I vote with my pocketbook, as well as my paper ballot in a state that has Ranked Voting and a model for voting that is under consideration in the House as a national model. I am doing what I can to reject Fox and other so called News and their broadcasters. This is my free speech at work.
The problem identified is a problem to share. Although the outcome of possible solutions may never rid us of Tucker Carlson I applaud the reporting of his racist position. Great reporting.
Unfortunately, the strategy of finding a streaming service that holds out Fox news specifically is challenged by the way the media companies (Disney, Viacom, Fox, etc) set up their contracts with the distributors (cable, satellite, and streaming). The distributors are easy to call and suggest that they offer packages with/without channel x, y, z but it cannot happen without the media companies agreeing to split up their channels. And the way the media companies handle their contracts they force a distributor to carry all of the "base channels" in a "base package".
Until a sufficient number of distributors say no to working this way (and dropping large bundles of channels) or some other shift forces the hand of the media companies to stop pushing this bundle strategy for carriage fees -- which is a generally good business $ decision when everyone is acting this way, but a bad end consumer experience even before you take into account the atrocious behavior of fox hosts -- you are fairly well stuck with the choice of dropping a bunch of channels and content you may enjoy and paying part of the salaries of people like Carlson.
There are streaming companies without Fox, but they also will not have channels like FX and other Fox-owned & distributed channels.
For local channels you can look into locast as they have been adding more markets to their non-profit service (donations accepted) to stream local tv without carriage costs.
The Tucker Carlsons of the world are out there in many different positions of influence. While I find him detestable there are too many that hang on his every word and rhetoric. Unfortunately he currently has a very large platform where he can influence and instill fear in a group that believes they are losing their positions of power. Which makes for some very dangerous situations in America. Thanks for this article and a suggested solution. I personally cut the cord to cable a long time ago.
Wow! Cutting the cord is overwhelming to older people. I’ll check with the Geek Squad and write to my media companies. Thanks. My adult children, sons in other states, all cut the cords years ago. Hmmm. Thinking here. Thanks so much!
I am a DTV subscriber who watches Fox only to get an idea where the crazies get their info. That lasts for maybe 10 mins before I tear my hair and run in circles cussing. I have never, ever watched Carlson.
Those of us in rural America with no affordable fibre broadband use Satellite internet or none at all. There in lies the rub. We are never going to be streaming anything. I have my cable for pleasure. It kept me sane in the Pandemic. I have watched 150 movies in a little over a year.
Best thing to do is keep on the Fox advertising corporations for the other abhorrent talking heads. Write this down, DTV is going to keep Fox. Many of their subscribers would protest in the street if they didn't. The emergence of OAN and NewsMax guarantee the market for more evil from Fox.
We need people like Judd on CNN as guest hosts instead of some of the right wingers they have engaged. MSNBC needs company in the free speech arena.
My Daddy always said the best defence is a good offence and sometimes you have to fight fire with fire. The middle and left in this country need to step up their game against Fox and Carlson, etc. White Supremacists have been building for 50 years in rural, and underground America. Donald Trump offered up a reason to come out into the light.
I sincerely hope we can get good internet to all rural places so you will not have to make this difficult choice to tolerate something negative to get the positive you need so much. Get out the vote for that Infrastructure plan because rural places will truly benefit.
I have tried to respond to this. Technology Corps providers are a huge problem. Rural areas cost more to provide and there are fewer of us.My friend was offered Comcast only if he paid 30k to get it run less than 100 yards from the server. Yes. People in subdivisions get for about 100 bucks.
The larger problem is our country is divided more than ever rural vs urban population centers. It is affecting the politics of this country and our social interactions. Fox News is one of many places this shows up. 43 State Legislatures are run by the GOP in states that have large rural areas.
The solution is beyond getting Fix off the air.
A house divided cannot stand.
You are so correct. Let us unite to provide basic services to any area, no matter if they are blue or red.
If it is available already in your area t-mobile now has a competitive 5G wireless offering for home internet. It has speeds well beyond what is needed for streaming and should offer competition to the monopolies that exist in many places.
That said many streaming tv services still have Fox. If you are looking for an option with any of the major national news or sports networks you will be stuck paying the Fox tax.
5G is not available in most rural areas, would be nice though
The idea that I am contributing even a penny to the loathsome Fox News just makes me want to gag. In particular, I despise Hannity and Carlson beyond belief.
Great information on where the money comes. It gives us path to try to cut it off.
While I hate subsidizing Fox News I am just as loathe about supporting ESPN for $7.64.
1. Simple population growth also dilutes the weight of Carlson’s vote more so than does than immigrants on becoming citizens. (Interestingly, the right has issues with people who have a greater love of the nation than they do, like immigrants and POC.)
2. A thought experiment: you can take Carlson’s “voting right” argument and apply it to those states that receive more money and largesse from the federal government than they pay in — parasites, moochers, takers, who are predominantly white. So the fine white people are leeching money from this blue state resident whose state has been paying far more that it’s share to Washington in order to provide handouts to poor whites. So, I dunno. Looks like whites are a real economic problem for people in my position.
West VA and Joe Manchin fit #2.
Thank you for this excellent column. I hope the momentum to stop paying cable fees to Fox grows. I will contact our local carrier to ask if they can offer a package without Fox "News."
Please let everyone know if you have any success!
Follow-up: I live in a smallish town in Ohio and we use our local cable coop for TV and internet. They didn't respond to an email I sent last week, so I called them this morning. Bottom line: Even though they purchase their packages with a group of other cable broadcasters, they are too small to create the packages they offer to customers. They have to buy what the major companies offer them. IF I really wanted to go without Fox news, I would have to downgrade to their Basic Package, with only local channels. This information comes from their Operations Manager. It's a very frustrating outcome as I like supporting the local cable company, but their hands are tied.
I never really considered how much carrier fees could prop up FOX News. I personally have cut the cord and I would encourage people to, if not prepared to do the same, make sure to share this information about how much they're spending a month to directly fund white nationalist propaganda.
I cut the cable cord several years ago and never looked back. I subscribe to premium channels a la carte. I can't think of any reason to sign up for bundled cable services in this day and age. I only pay now for the channels I want.
Me too!
Having read the full article , I am completely shocked! I do not watch Fox, so this insight into Carlson has left me feeling quite ready to stop my cable and just do streaming. However, i do watch CNN, MSNBC, BBC, ETC. How will i keep them?
You can actually pay for them separately through streaming services.
This article underscores the reason that I do not buy cable TV in my area. I stream what I want on line and have decided not to support any cable that carries Fox channels. I vote with my pocketbook, as well as my paper ballot in a state that has Ranked Voting and a model for voting that is under consideration in the House as a national model. I am doing what I can to reject Fox and other so called News and their broadcasters. This is my free speech at work.
You define a path of positive action in this clown circus. I've never wished I 'had cable' before, but I do now: so I could cancel it!
The problem identified is a problem to share. Although the outcome of possible solutions may never rid us of Tucker Carlson I applaud the reporting of his racist position. Great reporting.
Unfortunately, the strategy of finding a streaming service that holds out Fox news specifically is challenged by the way the media companies (Disney, Viacom, Fox, etc) set up their contracts with the distributors (cable, satellite, and streaming). The distributors are easy to call and suggest that they offer packages with/without channel x, y, z but it cannot happen without the media companies agreeing to split up their channels. And the way the media companies handle their contracts they force a distributor to carry all of the "base channels" in a "base package".
Until a sufficient number of distributors say no to working this way (and dropping large bundles of channels) or some other shift forces the hand of the media companies to stop pushing this bundle strategy for carriage fees -- which is a generally good business $ decision when everyone is acting this way, but a bad end consumer experience even before you take into account the atrocious behavior of fox hosts -- you are fairly well stuck with the choice of dropping a bunch of channels and content you may enjoy and paying part of the salaries of people like Carlson.
There are streaming companies without Fox, but they also will not have channels like FX and other Fox-owned & distributed channels.
For local channels you can look into locast as they have been adding more markets to their non-profit service (donations accepted) to stream local tv without carriage costs.
One of your best analyses yet. But who do we complaint to?
The Tucker Carlsons of the world are out there in many different positions of influence. While I find him detestable there are too many that hang on his every word and rhetoric. Unfortunately he currently has a very large platform where he can influence and instill fear in a group that believes they are losing their positions of power. Which makes for some very dangerous situations in America. Thanks for this article and a suggested solution. I personally cut the cord to cable a long time ago.
Wow! Cutting the cord is overwhelming to older people. I’ll check with the Geek Squad and write to my media companies. Thanks. My adult children, sons in other states, all cut the cords years ago. Hmmm. Thinking here. Thanks so much!