Hannity, along with Greta and O’Reilly, had clauses in their contracts allowing them to leave if there was a change in management at Fox News. Greta exercised hers and departed last fall. I’ve heard that she believed Roger Ailes and others would quickly launch a new channel and she would be part of the prime time line-up. Unfortunately, the upstart network failed to materialize and she signed with MSNBC.
This is beginning to look like 1996 all over again. Ailes had the vision; Murdoch had the money and there was a plethora of talent that was ready for the national level. This time around, the prospective talent (and behind-the-scenes management) is much more experienced and ready to hit the ground running. All that’s needed are investors willing to lose big money for the first year or so, and access to enough cable homes to establish a foundation and provide the initial audience.
As someone once observed, “nothing succeeds like an idea whose time has come.” With the younger Murdochs determined to wreck Fox News, a new conservative network could be very successful—and even faster than FNC was.
ExSpook, wouldn’t it be even more shocking to watch a news show about the news, not personalities? When CNN launched, it was excellent at providing news all day long. Journalists at that time were literate. That was 30 years ago and a more dumbed down populace is in charge. Literate, factual, no ax to grind (too obviously) would be a thing whose time has come.