It has been a rough month for progressives. Not only did they take a drubbing at the ballot box, but now they must face the possibility that their favorite cable TV networks are hanging on by a thread. Lest one forget: The media outlets in America are primarily corporate entities. Except for very few instances, like the taxpayer-funded Public Broadcasting System, much of the left-wing media is owned and operated by corporations. As every red-blooded American capitalist knows, corporations are in business for one reason only – to make money. And that appears to be the crux of the problem for Comcast Corporation, which owns several leftist media outlets.
On November 20, the Philadelphia-based company announced a spinoff plan that will mean separating from many of its cable channels, such as MSNBC, USA, CNBC, Oxygen, E!, the Golf Channel, and Syfy. Those who escaped the chopping block are the NBC broadcast network, Bravo, and the Peacock streaming service. "The transaction, structured as a tax-free spinoff to Comcast shareholders, is expected to take around a year to complete," according to The Wall Street Journal.
Aside from the business aspect of this move, one wonders what the upshot will be regarding some of America's most prominent progressive media outlets. It is a relevant question in light of the recent election, which cannot be categorized as a landslide, as veteran pollster Scott Rasmussen astutely pointed out in the Napolitan News Service:
“[I]t's important to avoid getting carried away by the hype. A realistic assessment of the results shows that it was not a landslide. While Trump won the popular vote, it was by the narrowest of margins (approximately one percentage point). Since 1888, only three winning candidates have had a smaller popular vote victory (1960, 2000, and 2016)."
"None of this is meant to diminish the significance of the incoming president's victory," he added. Indeed, it can be called a decisive win, and it appears that it was enough of a victory for the executives at Comcast to stanch the bleeding. After all, they have shareholders to satisfy.
Way back when – we're talking 2011 here – cable outfits were plum assets. However, technology has moved at a rapid pace, and cable TV is swiftly becoming a dinosaur in the media business. Liberty Nation News Economics Editor Andrew Moran put it this way: "As long as companies like Comcast maintain the antiquated cable TV model, they will continue to lose money like water through a faucet. At the very least, if brands want to keep yesterday's model intact, they need to offer products consumers want and are willing to go through the hassle of subscribing to expensive cable television packages. Streaming will dominate the present and the future."
As Americans seek to reduce their media costs, they are ditching cable and signing up for streaming alternatives like YouTube TV. There's a name for this: cord cutting. According to Comparitech.com, it "is a fast-growing trend among US residents." Other key points made by Comparitech reveal unsustainable revenue losses as well as paradigm-shifting realities in which the public gets its news:
Major cable providers collectively lost 6 million pay-TV subscribers each year between 2019 and 2022.
The average monthly cable TV bill is now $118 per month.
Live TV services come in and out of style.
Such as it is, places like MSNBC are bathing in red ink. Joe Scarborough; his wife, Mika Brzezinski; and the other assorted satraps of Morning Joe have been burning the leftist torch for a while now. However, even they recognize that the jig may be up for their hard-left brand of "news." Mr. Scarborough referred to the possible demise of his show – often referred to as “Morning Joke” – with some humor. It was one of those moments when the truth is in the joke: "I mean, I could be completely wrong; we could all be fired a year from now. Whenever this happens, you never know what's going to happen."
Leftist Media on Pins and Needles
Should the left lose MSNBC, it would be a travesty for progressives. As a central mouthpiece for the political left, its lineup includes Rachel Maddow, Lawrence O'Donnell, Andrea Mitchell, Joy Reid, and Chris Hayes, among others. Should these cable outfits not be able to survive Comcast's restructuring, this veritable who's who of the left will have few places to pitch their tent.
But don't believe for a second that this is the end of the leftist airwaves. In September of this year, the Federal Communications Commission approved a bid by a company controlled by George Soros to acquire Audacy – the second-largest radio group in the USA. It was a bitter and contentious 3-2 vote, but Soros managed to come out on top.
So long as progressives have tons of money to throw around, those on the political right will have their hands full. Still, this latest move by Comcast does not bode well for the leftist cause, something they will have to reckon with as they lick their wounds from an election that most assuredly was a repudiation of their values.
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