Disgraced former MSNBC host Mark Halperin charges thousands for news service

Former MSNBC host Mark Halperin is charging high-prices for his news service that launches Thursday. 

Wide World of News Concierge Coverage, which starts at $400 a month, is set to replace the Substack Halperin has operated since 2020. The new service will include the Wide World of News newsletter that Halperin currently publishes on his Substack, as well as several other features designed to give subscribers greater access to Halperin’s reporting. 

“This new service will give you – and your company or organization — actionable insights beyond dumbed-down cable news chatter or social doom scrolling,” Halperin’s new website says. “Instead, you’ll get the inside track on what will happen next and why, from Halperin’s unbiased, curated reporting.

Halperin’s television career imploded in 2017 following several sexual misconduct allegations. He was fired by NBC and from Showtime’s The Circus. According to the Daily Beast, Halperin launched a comeback campaign with the help of Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, both of whom are personal friends. Two months after Halperin was fired, Brzezinski tweeted complaining that Halperin’s accusers denied meeting with him in person and in 2019 she devoted a segment of Morning Joe to comment positively on Halperin’s appearance on Michael Smerconish’s talk show. 

Halperin’s rehabilitation efforts haven’t paid high dividends yet. He currently hosts Mark Halperin’s Focus Group on Newsmax and writes daily for his Substack, Wide World of News. He announced earlier this month that readers will no longer be able to access his newsletter on Substack starting on June 15. 

“This is the very last edition of this newsletter that most of you will get,” Halperin wrote on Wednesday, “If you haven’t signed up for the wide world of news concierge coverage by tomorrow at this time, you will not get the newsletter Thursday.” 

Readers who wish to follow Halperin’s work can subscribe to the $3,360 a year Luigi plan or the $4,800 a year Mario plan (wa-hoo?!). Both plans will include the Daily Wide World News newsletter, breaking news emails with analysis and breaking news Zooms. Premium members will also get access to focus groups, two private Zoom calls a year, monthly “salon” conversations and off-the-record coverage of the 2024 election. 

Halperin said he is aware some of his readers won’t be able to make the financial jump to the new platform but assured them that he will still post on Substack occasionally. 

“I’m truly sorry to make a change that will cut some of you off from our daily contact,” Halperin wrote on his Substack. “I understand possible disappointment for those who enjoy reading the newsletter.”