Reports: Trump Eyes TV Network Launch

Donald Trump is keen to start a TV network, according to press reports, catering to the many fans he’s attracted across his decades in the public eye, and his more recent run as a presidential hopeful. The Financial Times reported that Trump’s son in law, the newspaper owner Jared Kushner, contacted Aryeh Bourkoff, founder of the New York-based investment bank LionTree, about backing a TV venture if he loses the election Nov. 8.

Kushner, who is married to Ivanka Trump, owns the New York Observer and is a close confidante of the GOP standard bearer.

In June, Vanity Fair reported that Trump was keen to expand his TV holdings beyond his own Trump Productions, with an eye on a "mini-media conglomerate."

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Trump has denied talk of TV plans in recent weeks. In September, when his shot at securing the White House looked far more favorable, he told the Washington Post: “I want to win the presidency. I have no interest in a media company.”

One model for Trump may be Glenn Beck’s streaming service TheBlaze, which he launched in 2011 after departing Fox News. Subscriptions cost $9.95 a month or $99.95 a year.

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The statistical analysis platform FiveThirtyEight said Trump had an 11.8% chance of winning the presidency at presstime.

Trump’s press office did not return a request for comment, on short notice.

Michael Malone

Michael Malone is content director at B+C and Multichannel News. He joined B+C in 2005 and has covered network programming, including entertainment, news and sports on broadcast, cable and streaming; and local broadcast television, including writing the "Local News Close-Up" market profiles. He also hosted the podcasts "Busted Pilot" and "Series Business." His journalism has also appeared in The New York Times, The L.A. Times, The Boston Globe and New York magazine.