Report: Peter Thiel mulled creating conservative cable network

Peter Thiel, the wealthy venture capitalist and rare Silicon Valley Trump supporter, was looking into building a new conservative cable news network that would rival Fox, Buzzfeed reports. Sources tell Buzzfeed that Thiel was in touch with the Mercer family, Republican billionaire donors that financed Breitbart, about funding the project.

Why it matters: It's another example of growing interest in creating a right-of-center cable news network to rival Fox. The idea had been tossed when conservative-leaning Sinclair Broadcasting Corporation bid $3.9 billion for a takeover of Tribune Media, which would offer them access to a cable news channel. Speculation about forming another right-wing cable network out of the conservative-leaning Newsmax brand began to surface when Bill O'Reilly was ousted from Fox News.