Remember, also, that Vice President-elect Mike Pence mulled a state-run news service in Indiana last year. The Indianapolis Star reported on the idea before Pence had planned to make it public, and the governor quickly abandoned the idea in the face of criticism for what appeared to be an attempt to circumvent the independent press.

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BuzzFeed’s Rosie Gray reported on election night — before the outcome was clear — that Donald Trump was still mulling a media company, as previously rumored.

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The Trump campaign did little to quash speculation when it assigned a camera spot to “Trump TV” in the ballroom where the real estate mogul hosted his election-night victory party.

As it did on debate nights and other nights late in the race, the Trump campaign streamed live coverage on the candidate’s Facebook page. The host was former Miss USA contestant Madison Gesiotto.

Interview with Anthony Scaramucci! TODAY WE MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! Go to https://vote.gop to find your polling location. Posted by Donald J. Trump on Tuesday, November 8, 2016

Trump did say in late October that he was not thinking about starting a television channel.

“No, I have no interest in Trump TV,” he said in an interview with a Cincinnati radio station. “I hear it all over the place. I have a tremendous fan base; we have a tremendous base. We have the most incredible people, but I just don’t have any interest in that. I have one interest; that’s on Nov. 8.”

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That’s a pretty direct denial, but what else would a presidential candidate say before Election Day? If Trump were thinking about doing anything besides being president, he probably wouldn’t let on.

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Plus, his campaign chief executive, Steve Bannon, left the door wide open when CNN’s Brooke Baldwin and Brian Stelter ran into him at a Las Vegas airport before the final debate.

“When asked if there is anything to the rumors,” Baldwin and Stelter reported, “Bannon responded with a smile and said, ‘Trump is an entrepreneur.’”

Trump’s primary focus will be on his job as commander in chief, of course, but he could leave the management of Trump TV (or whatever he might call it) to others. Bannon, the chairman of Breitbart News, would be a logical partner in a media venture. Trump also could lean on former Fox News chairman Roger Ailes, an informal adviser during the campaign, and Jared Kushner, the owner and publisher of the New York Observer and Trump’s son-in-law.

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Trump does not seem like one to walk away from a business opportunity.

“By Election Day,” Bloomberg reported in October, “the campaign expects to have captured 12 million to 14 million email addresses and contact information (including credit card numbers) for 2.5 million small-dollar donors.”