In between running for the GOP presidential nomination, raising money, holding rallies, eating at Chick-fil-A, and serving as a defendant in what will be the first of several criminal trials, President Trump, through his Trump Media & Technology Group, has teased the launch of an all-new venture: A soon-to-launch streaming service, focused on content like documentaries as well as religious and family-friendly titles. Sort of a MAGA-fied Netflix, if you will.
Devin Nunes, the CEO of Trump’s media organization which also operates his Truth Social platform, laid out the plan for the still-unnamed streamer during the second day of Trump’s criminal trial in Manhattan. The company, he explained, is rolling out the new service in three phases.
The initial rollout will involve streaming live TV to the Truth Social app for Android, iOS, and the web. After that will come an over-the-top Truth Social streaming app for phones, tablets and other devices, followed by a Truth Social streaming app for home TVs. “We’re excited to move forward with the next big phase for Truth Social,” Nunes said in a release about the new service, which will also host “content that has been cancelled, is at risk of cancellation, or is being suppressed on other platforms and services.”
Of course, this is an initiative of the former president we’re talking about here — which is to say, the announcement from Trump’s Media company is predictably short on details and long on promises. There’s no name or price point mentioned yet for the new streaming service, for example, though Trump’s company already knows that it will operate “efficiently, cost-effectively and independent of Big Tech.”
Furthermore, the design of the service will be “user friendly, incorporating cutting edge technology to optimize speed, performance, and security for video streaming while minimizing interruptions.”
If the company is indeed serious about doing this, it must be acknowledged that there is indeed a market for this type of content — though it’s (obviously) capital-intensive to produce and acquire. The Daily Wire, a subscription-based media business cofounded by Ben Shapiro, offers one example of how Trump’s streamer could work.
Once a mostly news- and commentary-focused web property with a massive social media presence, the company expanded to include subscriber-exclusive original programming like feature films and podcasts. Of course, The Daily Wire also operates a pretty predictable, stable media business, and doesn’t have a history of stiffing vendors, racking up indictments, or alienating allies.
Trump’s media company, meanwhile, went public at the end of March, and it’s lost billions of dollars in value since then. Netflix also lost money hand over fist for years, though, so who knows, right?
