The Hannity Options (all times Eastern):
1. Hannity at 7:00. Replacing the boring Shep.
1a. 8:00 is O'Reilly forever.
1b. 9:00 is Megyn
2. Hannity at 10:00. Greta at 10:00 could be bumped to 11:00.
3. Hannity at 11:00. O'Reilly repeat at 11:00 could be bumped to 12:00.
4. Hannity says BYE-BYE to Fox and moves to MSNBC or CNN.
5. Hannity says BYE-BYE to TV.
These are the only practical options for Hannity.
Just maybe Hannity wants out to enjoy he mega $$$. I would at some point want that. I hope that is it.
I think your second scenario is more likely; Hannity re-upped with Fox within the last year and so did Greta. Both are guaranteed evening timeslots. Don’t see Roger Ailes letting either of them out of their contracts, simply because they might bring more viewers to CNN.
Megyn Kelly’s promotion is really about the next 8 pm host on FNC. By moving her to 9 pm, she’s being groomed for O’Reilly’s slot when he retires.
And who knows? Bill O may decided to hang it up in the next few years. He’s going through a an expensive divorce (but his wife was caught cheating, so that and the pre-nup may limit his financial exposure); he’s climbed the mountain in cable news and knows he’ll never get a similar opportunity on a broadcast net. He’s a millionaire many times over, so he may decide to go out on top in the next 3-5 years.
I think Megyn will be successful at 9 pm, but Mr. Ailes will be watching her ratings carefully before annointing her as O’Reilly’s successor. One thing is certain: Sean has forever lost his shot at the 8 pm slot; getting rid of Alan Colmes and giving him a solo program was something of a trial run for Hannity as a potential replacement for O’Reilly. Roger Ailes has clearly determined that Sean will never be ready for the 8 o’clock time slot.
The wild card in all of this is still Glenn Beck. People forget that when he left Fox News, Beck took along one of Roger Ailes’s senior VPs (Joel Cheatwood). His primary job has been described as liaision between Beck’s company and FNC. Fox supposedly has options on future projects developed by Beck and his company. If Megyn falters, you may see Fox developing a much closer partnership with Beck. On the other hand, Glenn’s own channel appears to be doing very well; he reportedly made $77 million last year, so there’s no real financial reason for him to return to FNC.
But but but but Where does that put Leno on your schedule ? ? ?
Does Leno take the Red Eye spot? lol