President Trump supporters are aiming to buy a conservative news channel and possibly change the face of cable media, the Wall Street Journal reports. Hicks Equity Partners, owned by a Trump ally, is seeking other GOP donors to bid around $250 million for One America News Network. The move comes amid Trump's occasional criticism of Fox News and praise for One America, but Hicks Equity claims it's all about dollars and cents. "Over the last 25 years, we have been active media investors," says a partner at the investment firm. "Any interest in OANN is from a purely business standpoint." Thomas Hicks Jr, whose family owns Hicks Equity, is co-chair of the Republican National Committee and good friends with Donald Trump Jr.
As it stands, OANN grabs few eyeballs compared to Fox News, MSNBC, and CNN, but word is a new owner could make pay-TV that increase viewership; fresh management and improve production values would also help. "The concern is that there's only Fox," says a Dallas investor who plans to join in. "The left has so much more." Established in 2004, OANN runs right-leaning news along with general news aggregated by Reuters, per the Wrap. But the network's president, Charles Herring, says he isn't necessarily biting. "With the 2020 political season in full swing, expressed interest is on the rise," he says. "Yet our family didn't build our operations to sell it." (More cable news stories.)
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