Sinclair Rethinks How to Build a Paid News Subscription Business

digital news media subscriptions news subscriptions paid content partnerships recurring revenue sinclair subscription strategy substack the national press Oct 07, 2026

Sinclair is turning reporting from 1,200 local journalists into a new national subscription product, creating another potential revenue stream from a newsroom network it already operates while partnering for parts of the new business.

Sinclair announced October 6 that it has launched The National Press, a new national digital news brand built around reporting from the company's local newsrooms, with free and paid subscription tiers.

The National Press is built on Substack and draws on approximately 1,200 Sinclair journalists working across more than 60 local content centers. Programming is also distributed through YouTube, podcast networks and social platforms.

Sinclair has tried building a national digital news business before. It acquired the mobile news brand Circa in 2015, relaunched it as a national digital operation in 2016 and shut it down four years later. CEO Chris Ripley has since described Circa as a failure.

This time, Sinclair is building differently. It already has the journalism and audience reach. New Media is helping build and operate the new product, while Substack provides the publishing and subscription platform.

An existing newsroom network becomes a new product

Sinclair owns, operates or provides services to 178 television stations in 79 markets. Those stations are already operating newsrooms and producing local journalism every day.

The National Press gives Sinclair another product built on reporting it is already producing.

Its weekday morning program brings Sinclair reporters covering major stories into a national conversation. The National Story spends more time on a single issue, while subscribers also receive a daily email briefing built from local reporting with broader national relevance.

Sinclair Executive Vice President and Chief Digital Officer Kevin Cotlove described the strategy as extending the reach and value of journalism Sinclair already produces and building a new business around one of the company's core strengths.

Sinclair does not have to create another 1,200-person reporting network to launch the product. There are still new costs, including production and payments to its operating partner, but a successful paid offering could create another source of revenue around newsroom infrastructure the company already supports.

Some of the journalism will still be available for free

The National Press sits alongside another Sinclair national news product.

The National News Desk also draws on reporting from Sinclair's local newsrooms and expanded again in September. It is distributed through Sinclair television stations and digital channels, including a website that remains free with no subscription, login or authentication required.

So there is overlap in the underlying reporting. What changes with The National Press is the product built around it and the direct relationship with the audience.

According to Axios, paid subscribers will receive benefits including ad-free and extended programming, subscriber-only content and interactive features. Ripley told Axios that revenue growth will be the primary measure of success, followed by subscriber growth. Advertising and sponsorship are not part of the initial revenue model.

That leaves Sinclair with a familiar subscription problem: people can get much of the underlying reporting elsewhere for free. The paid product has to create enough additional value through its packaging, programming and subscriber experience to make the recurring charge worthwhile.

Sinclair is choosing what it needs to own

The use of partners is more interesting because Sinclair already has meaningful technology, digital media and subscription experience.

Its broader business includes technology and marketing-service companies, and Sinclair operates a direct-to-consumer subscription business through Tennis Channel's streaming service. The company is not starting from zero.

Still, it chose to bring in specialists for The National Press.

New Media was founded by former journalists and producers from The Free Press and works with publishers and creators building digital subscription businesses. According to Axios, New Media will manage content production for The National Press and receive a monthly production fee plus a share of revenue.

Substack provides an established environment for publishing and converting audiences from free to paid subscriptions.

Ripley told Axios that working with New Media should significantly reduce the risk compared with Sinclair's Circa attempt. That history helps explain the approach. Sinclair is still pursuing national digital news, but it is being more selective about which parts of the new business it needs to build itself.

Insider Take

The National Press is more interesting as a business-model decision than as a Substack launch.

Sinclair already owns the hard-to-replicate asset: a large network of journalists producing reporting from communities around the country. The National Press tests whether the company can create another recurring-revenue product from that investment without duplicating the newsroom cost base.

Sinclair also has enough technology and subscription experience to make its decision to partner more interesting. The question isn't whether it could build more internally. It's whether doing so would be the best use of its resources.

The paid proposition still has to work. Much of the underlying reporting will remain available for free, so The National Press has to create enough additional value to earn a recurring payment. If it does, Sinclair will have found another way to generate revenue from an asset it was already paying for while taking a more focused approach to building the business around it.

Related Member Resources

Sinclair already produces much of the journalism behind The National Press and continues to distribute reporting through free channels. The subscription question is whether the new product can package that reporting in a way that gives people a clear reason to pay.

Paid Content Strategy: What Makes Readers Willing to Subscribe?
This strategy guide helps publishers assess what makes content valuable enough to support a paid relationship when readers have plenty of free alternatives. It is especially relevant here because The National Press has to create paid value around journalism Sinclair is already distributing elsewhere.