A hypothetical media merger - which would make more sense?

[Martinus]

Ok, here is a bit of a hypothetical question. Assume such outcome is possible both financially and legally (i.e. from the antitrust perspective), which of the following scenarios would make more sense commercially, in terms of continuing the current operations of these media/news outlets:

- a single corporation runs both Fox News and MSNBC News

or

- a single corporation runs CNN and either Fox News or MSNBC News

I guess the question is one of credibility (would it be affected, from the viewer's perspective, if two "opposing" media outlets belonged to the same company) vs. overlap leading to loss of revenue/viewers (which would probably be affected to a greater extent in the second scenario).

[MadImmortalMan]

MSNBC would not survive either scenario due to low ratings.

But no, I think it's possible for them to coexist within the same company structure. Usually the editorial positions are not tampered with in those situations. It's a good business decision--the separate entities have different target markets.

[CountDeMoney]

MSNBC would not survive either scenario due to low ratings.

[dps]

MSNBC would not survive either scenario due to low ratings.

But no, I think it's possible for them to coexist within the same company structure. Usually the editorial positions are not tampered with in those situations. It's a good business decision--the separate entities have different target markets.

Yeah, that's how the newspapers in Charleston do it.  The morning paper was a Democratic paper, while the evening paper was a Repulican paper.  They were both owned by the same company, but you'd never know it unless you read the fine print in the publisher's notes, or followed local business news carefully.

There is a difference, though, in that newspapers are generally upfront about their editorial bias, while TV news operations aren't.

[Ed Anger]

MSNBC would not survive either scenario due to low ratings.

Ailes ritually sacrificing Martin Bashir on the altar of the party? That gives me a boner.

[Tamas]

We could make some good money if we figured out what kind of EU media merger Marty has been working on preparing

[The Brain]

The merger of Hungarian Beetcasting and Gypsovision.

[11B4V]

They should combine Fox News and MSNBC. We would then the straight story.