Dem
47
GOP
53
The real-life version of the show Succession, which was playing out before our very eyes, has had its series finale. The Murdoch family, heirs to the media empire of 94-year-old patriarch Rupert, has reached agreement on the question of "How far do you need to be into the 'more money than you can ever possibly spend' range, in order to be happy?"
Initially, the terms of the deal were not reported, but it's not the type of secret that keeps for long. And so, it's now known that Lachlan Murdoch, who has largely been running the show, will gain complete control of his father's empire. The other three Murdoch children who were supposed to benefit from dad's trust—James Murdoch, Elisabeth Murdoch and Prudence MacLeod—will each get $1.1 billion. Nice work, if you can get it.
The angle that most politically oriented sites are taking is "Lachlan is the most conservative of the Murdoch kids, and this will allow/cause Fox's cable channel to remain conservative." Truth be told, even if the three much more liberal kids had taken control, we doubt Fox's editorial policy would have changed. And the far more important dynamic, when it comes to the future of Fox "News," is that the median age for their viewers is 68. And that's not just a Fox thing; the median age for CNN viewers is 67, and for MS NOW it's 71. Cable is slowly dying, cable "news" is quickly dying, and most people who want political content want it on-demand, and less structured. That means things like podcasts and YouTube streams. It is implausible that, in 10 years, Fox will have anywhere near the relevance it has right now. And if it does, it will be a very different-looking Fox. Sorry, Sean and Laura!
The Murdochs are not likely to say so openly, but they know the score. The crown jewels of the Murdoch empire are things like the Dow Jones and Sky News in Australia. The Fox cable channel is definitely down to "side hustle." (Z)