Election-Tech Firm Smartmatic Sues Fox News and Three Personalities for More Than $2.7 Billion

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorThis Saturday-morning news show is supposed to look like the ones that precede it Monday through Friday. It doesn’t.Co-anchor Jeff Glor isn’t wearing a tie and his colleagues, Michelle Miller and Dana Jacobson, often join him in a weekend outing that seems cut from different cloth than the weekday version to which it is tied.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorTucker Carlson will expand his content contributions for Fox News Media, agreeing to a new deal to create three video podcasts and some original specials for Fox Nation, the company’s subscription-based video service.Starting in April,  Carlson is expected to release at least three new video podcast episodes a week. They will feature interviews with newsmakers, as well as discussions of prominent issues in the news cycle.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorLarry Kudlow spent nearly three years advising former President Donald Trump on economic policy. Now he’s taking to Fox Business Network, where he will get to comment as a new Commander-in-Chief is likely to dismantle much of what his predecessor wrought.Can he do so in an objective manner?“I’ve said good and bad things about Democrats and Republicans,” says Kudlow in an interview, noting that business-news viewers probably already know his philosophy.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorSavannah Guthrie’s next one-hour special won’t appear on any of NBC News’ best known properties, which include “Today” and “NBC Nightly News.”  And yet, it may be of more critical importance to the NBCUniversal-owned news organization than any in-depth report she’s presented in recent months.Guthrie will today kick off a week-long focus by NBC News on the mental health of young people during the pandemic, the first of what NBC News President Noah Oppenheim says

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorAttorneys for Fox News filed individual motions Thursday night to dismiss Smartmatic’s defamation lawsuit on behalf of Lou Dobbs, Maria Bartiromo and Jeanine Pirro, three anchors who have been named in the matter in which the voting technology company is seeking a whopping $2.7 billion.The three motions were filed by Kirkland & Ellis, the law firm representing Fox News in the matter.

Fox News personalities Maria Bartiromo, Lou Dobbs and Jeanine Pirro contend that they were well within the bounds of First Amendment protection as they covered ultimately false claims that Smartmatic rigged the election results against Donald Trump.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorBloomberg News on Thursday began notifying a group of employees they were being terminated, according to three people familiar with the matter, the latest in an ongoing string of layoffs at media companies as they grapple with the economics of the  digital age.Some staffers were given the sense the company hoped to enact a restructuring among a group of veteran editors, according to one of these people, who noted that some employees affected had been with

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorFox News Channel plans to fill its 11 p.m. weeknight hour with an “irreverent” late-night show from host Greg Gutfeld, the latest in a series of programming maneuvers the Fox Corporation-owned outlet has put into place in the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election,The show currently airing at 11 p.m.

Fox Corp. has signed Fox News Media CEO Suzanne Scott to a multi-year contract extension.

Fox Corp. CEO Lachlan Murdoch said Fox News is not about to adjust its political orientation despite a bumpy period during and after the 2020 presidential election and a recent slip in its ratings.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorFox News Media made a bid Monday to quash a massive $2.7 billion defamation lawsuit that has called into question segments delivered on at least three of its programs, saying the legal case presented by voting-technology firm Smartmatic is “meritless” and would “chill First Amendment activities.”Smartmatic, a maker of software that helps in elections,  has been the subject of disparaging commentary from a handful of conservative-news outlets.

Fox News is seeking a dismissal of Smartmatic’s $2.7 billion defamation lawsuit, arguing that it was providing First Amendment protected newsworthy information in featuring President Donald Trump’s surrogates and their false claims of election fraud.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorLou Dobbs’ program is off the schedule at Fox Business Network, and Larry Kudlow’s will soon be on.Fox Business Network will launch a new 4 p.m. program led by Kudlow on Tuesday, February 16, putting the former Trump economic adviser and CNBC personality on screen just as the stock markets close for the day.

Fox News has canceled Lou Dobbs’ Fox Business show, Lou Dobbs Tonight, and will replace him with a rotating group of hosts.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorFox Business Network is poised to cancel Lou Dobbs’ long-running program, the latest in a series of programming changes taking place at Fox News Media, according to a report from the Los Angeles Times.A spokesperson for Fox News Media could not be reached for immediate comment.Dobbs is one of three Fox News personalities who has been sued along with the Fox Corporation unit by Smartmatic, the voting technology company that has levied a $2.7 billion defamation

A voting technology company is suing Fox News, three of its top hosts and two former lawyers for former President Donald Trump — Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell — for $2.7 billion, charging that the defendants conspired to spread false claims that the company helped "steal" the U.S. presidential election.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorLinsey Davis is helping to tie things together at ABC News.You might not see the string during one of her recent hours on the Disney unit’s ABC News Live. On Tuesday evening, Davis’ “ABC News Live Prime” took viewers to Russia to examine how the government was cracking down on citizen protests and spent time looking at Congress’ effort to devise pandemic relief and hold an impeachment trial.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorLinsey Davis and Whit Johnson have been named co-anchors of the weekend broadcasts of ABC News “World News Tonight,” filling roles in the wake of the departure of anchor Tom Llanas.In a memo sent to ABC News staffers Monday, James Goldston, the unit’s outgoing president, said Johnson will anchor Saturdays, while Davis will anchor Sundays. They will commence their new duties this weekend.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorJames Goldston, the president of ABC News, will leave the Walt Disney-backed unit at the end of March, the latest in a recent series of changes among top national news executives.“It’s a really tough decision,” Goldston said in a memo to staffers.