Sarah Palin is testing the fervency of her following by offering fans access to her "unfiltered" views and her personal life. The cost: $99.95 per year.
The former Republican vice presidential nominee and former Alaskan governor has launched a new online subscription TV channel, aptly titled the Sarah Palin Channel, that she bills as "a news channel that really is a lot more than news."
[seealso slug="twitter-political-parodies"]
"This is a community where we're going to be able to share ideas and discuss the issues of the day, and we're going to find solutions," she says in a video released on Sunday touting the channel.
News of Palin's channel first broke in March, when Capital New York reported that Palin joined with Tapp, a digital video startup. Rumors swirled about names for the channel, like "Rogue TV," but it appears that it will stick even closer to the Palin brand.
Palin is the latest conservative voice to venture into a subscription model that depends heavily on the ability to translate the personal brand into revenue. Andrew Sullivan ventured out with The Dish, while Glenn Beck continues to operate a small media empire. Palin's station is priced like Beck's at just under $100 per year or $9.95 per month, which is much higher than Sullivan's $1.99 per month or $19.99 per year.
The price point also comes in above services such as Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime.
Palin promises to take subscribers "beyond the soundbites" of traditional media, but all the classic soundbites are here, including "the powers that be," "media filters," "the media's politically correct filter," "Washington D.C.'s crony capitalism" and "the ideas Washington doesn't want you to hear."
"We'll talk about the issues that the mainstream media won't talk about," she says in the video.
Subscribers gain access to regular video chats as well as "some of the fun that goes on in the Palin household." The video includes a variety of shots of Palin greeting everyday Americans, visiting factories and spending some time with her family. Palin is never one to shy away from a bit of self-deprecating humor, and the video includes a brief shot of her writing notes on her hand, a move that caused some controversy when she did just that during a Tea Party convention.
[wp_scm_comment]