Elon Musk has hinted he could buy MSNBC, the Left-leaning TV network, in a move which could see a dramatic realignment of the political news landscape.
The billionaire tech entrepreneur, who has railed against the “Left-wing” media, floated the idea in a post on his own social media network, X, jokingly asking how much it would cost.
Quoting a post from an account which claimed the network had been put up for sale by Comcast, because “lying non-stop to your audience is a lousy business model,” Donald Trump Jr tagged the mogul and wrote: “Hey Elon Musk I have the funniest idea ever!!!”
In response Mr Musk wrote: “How much does it cost?”. In a follow-up post he added: “The most entertaining outcome, especially if ironic, is most likely” with a laughing crying face emoji.
Mr Musk’s purchase of Twitter – which he rebranded as X – saw the landscape of the social media platform transformed.
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As one of his first acts, he reversed a ban on Donald Trump’s account.
Channels in Trump’s crosshairs
In recent weeks Bluesky, an alternative social media platform, has been attracting liberal users from X.
MSNBC – along with a raft of other channels – is already in Mr Trump’s crosshairs, with the president-elect threatening to get the Federal Communications Commission to revoke their licences.
In recent months he also announced he was suing CBS for $10 billion, claiming its editing of an 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris amounted to election interference – which the channel has denied.
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Last year he accused MSNBC of “election interference”, which he compared to a “24-hour hit job”.
The channel is one of at least 20 news organisations which Mr Trump has sued over its overestimating the losses made by his Truth Social network.
Earlier this week, broadcasting behemoth Comcast announced plans to spin off a raft of its channels including MSNBC and CNBC.
While hiving off the streaming companies would not need FCC approval, there would still be some regulatory hurdles for any company to take over the broadcasters.
Broadcasting ‘bombshell’
“There are only two media entities that Donald Trump dislikes more than CNN. One is MSNBC and the other is NBC,” Craig Moffett, a media veteran and founder of media analysts MoffettNathanson told CNN.
Mr Trump has already said he will strengthen political control of the FCC.
Mr Musk floating the idea of buying MSNBC was described as “a bombshell on the broadcasting landscape” by Thomas Whalen, associate professor of social sciences at Boston University.
“I think how Vladimir Putin and oligarchs have been buying the free media in Russia,” he told The Telegraph.
“MSNBC is still a network which is providing real criticism of Trump and his policies. CNN is now playing both sides against the middle.
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