Geraldo Rivera’s Long Career at Fox News Appears to End

Jesse Watters’ debut as the permanent occupant of Fox News’ 8 p.m. hour gave the network a boost in the timeslot, versus the series of replacement hosts who have filled the time period since the cancellation of Tucker Carlson’s show.

Ellise Shafer During Jesse Watters’ first show in Tucker Carlson’s coveted 8 p.m. slot on Fox News, his mom called in with some sage advice, telling the host: “Do not tumble into any conspiracy rabbit holes.” As the show came to an end, Watters took a call from his Democrat mom, who said: “I have enjoyed the show. I want to say congratulations, honeybun, we are so proud of you and your accomplishments, and you’ve worked so hard. Now, let’s aim to have you keep your job.” Carlson, the most-watched primetime host on Fox News, had been known to stoke conspiracy theories, especially in the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election and the Jan. 6 insurrection. In April, it was announced that Carlson had exited Fox News just days after parent company Fox Corp. agreed to pay $787.5 million in a settlement to Dominion Voting Systems in a defamation case in which they were accused of questioning the company’s role in the outcome of the election. Carlson was expected to testify should the case have continued. In late June, it was announced that Watters, who previously had his show at 7 p.m., would take over Carlson’s time slot.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor When Sean Hannity handed off his Fox News program to Laura Ingraham last Thursday night, he had company. On-air switches between cable-news hosts make for bright moments on Fox News, CNN and MSNBC, with the audiences at home and producers in studio looking at warm exchanges between personalities like Hannity and Ingraham or Rachel Maddow and Lawrence O’Donnell. The chatter between former CNN hosts Chris Cuomo and Don Lemon generated so much attention that producers often let the segment bleed into Lemon’s first segment of the night and even time reserved for commercials. These days, Hannity has begun letting a new crowd bear witness.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Cable subscribers typically recognize a handful of news brands, including CNN, MSNBC and Fox News Channel. If Comcast has its way, they may start to search more readily for one outlet that has been linked more readily to the emerging realm of broadband. NBC News Now, the free ad-supported streaming service launched by NBC News in 2019, is set to be made a bigger a part of Xfinity, the consumer-facing cable-and-broadband service from corporate parent Comcast. NBC News Now will, starting Monday, become part of the company’s X1 platform and channel guide, alongside 20 other FAST channels. Users will see its offerings throughout various guides, including the ones pointing to live programming.

UPDATE, with video Geraldo Rivera said on ABC’s The View today that his recent firing from Fox News’ The Five came amidst his “toxic relationship” with one of the show’s co-hosts.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor A former Arizona man who claims he had to flee his home after former Fox News host Tucker Carlson deliberately and falsely portrayed him as an undercover FBI agent who launched the January 6, 2020 attacks on the U.S. Capitol, has sued the cable-news outlet for defamation. It is the latest suit from a series of parties who allege Fox News deliberately and with malice broadcast incorrect and damaging accounts about them. Fox Corp., the outlet’s parent, recently paid out $787.5 million to voting-technology firm Dominion Voting Systems over allegations that Fox News deliberately implicated the company in false allegations about the security of the 2020 presidential election, and paid $12 million to a former Fox News producer who alleged she had been hectored into providing false testimony in that matter.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor To collect ad dollars this year, the nation’s big TV networks did something they rarely do. They held a fire sale. U.S. media companies have largely closed out their “upfront” ad-sales process, according to four executives familiar with recent negotiations, and are likely to see a decline in volume for the first time since the 2020 coronavirus pandemic — and just the second since 2015. These executives said the volume of advertising commitments the networks were able to secure fell in nearly all areas, except sports. And to get there, the networks had to cut their rates. The numbers in 2023 are expected to be less robust than last year’s. In 2022, the five broadcast TV networks secured around $9.9 billion in primetime sales, up 6.4%, according to Media Dynamics Inc., a consultancy that tracks the marketplace. Cable networks sold $10.2 billion, representing an increase of 5.2%. In total, linear TV saw ad commitments last year increase 5.8% to $20.1 billion. NBCUniversal, Fox, Paramount Global, Warner Bros. Discovery and Disney declined to make executives available for comment. More details are likely to surface in the companies’ second-quarter earnings results, slated for release over the next few weeks.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Jo Ling Kent is jumping to CBS News after spending the last several years with rival NBC News. Kent will join CBS News as its senior business and technology correspondent, and will start reporting for all CBS News programs and venues later this summer. She is expected to cover everything from global economics to personal finance and consumer trends to the Federal Reserve and the World Bank. “Jo Ling has reported on artificial intelligence’s impact on our lives, viral disinformation, social media privacy issues, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the global supply chain,” saidNeeraj Khemlani, co-president of CBS News and Stations, in a prepared statement. “She’s also led investigations into the conditions of workers at Amazon’s warehouses and Facebook’s impact on the 2016 elections. We look forward to having her on our team.”

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Fox News agreed to pay $12 million to Abby Grossberg, a former producer for Tucker Carlson and Maria Bartiromo, who alleged the Fox Corp.-backed outlet had coerced her into providing false testimony in a deposition related to a recent defamation suit levied by Dominion Voting Systems as well as operating a hostile and discriminatory workplace. In her suit, filed in the Southern District of the State of New York earlier this year, Grossberg alleged she was harassed and forced to give inaccurate information in the Dominion matter, which Fox agreed to settle for $787.5 million in April. Parisis G. Filippatos, an attorney for Grossberg, did not respond immediately to a query seeking comment. “We are pleased that we have been able to resolve this matter without further litigation,” Fox News said in a statement.

It looks like Geraldo Rivera‘s time on Fox News has come to an end.

Geraldo Rivera is unplugging from Fox News.

Geraldo Rivera is saying goodbye to Fox News after 23 years.The longtime journalist announced the news on Twitter Thursday. In a video from what appeared to be a speed boat, Rivera shared that he got fired from Fox News'  -- the network's weekday opinion show featuring a roundtable ensemble of five rotating Fox News personalities, and thereby quit.«Bumpy day on the North Atlantic. Anyway, I got fired from @TheFive so I quit Fox,» Rivera captioned the video.

Geraldo Rivera said in a Twitter message that he has been fired from The Five and is leaving Fox News.

Geraldo Rivera is saying goodbye to Fox News after 23 years.The longtime journalist announced the news on Twitter Thursday. In a video from what appeared to be a speed boat, Rivera shared that he got fired from Fox News'  -- the network's weekday opinion show featuring a roundtable ensemble of five rotating Fox News personalities, and thereby quit.«Bumpy day on the North Atlantic. Anyway, I got fired from @TheFive so I quit Fox,» Rivera captioned the video.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor The nation’s biggest media chiefs have for months asked investors to be patient. Wait until the back half of 2023, they’ve said, when ad money will start to flow once again. Now companies like Paramount Global, Comcast, Disney, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery need to play a waiting game of their own. Ad budgets are expected to be down in the industry’s “upfront” market, when U.S. media companies try to sew up deals for the bulk of their advertising inventory ahead of the fall launch of their next programming cycle. Big marketers are not only uncertain about what new content will be available come autumn – a writers’ strike has squelched production of everything from late-night programs to scripted comedies and dramas – but what they should expect from the economy over the next few months.

Tucker Carlson is being replaced.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Jesse Watters, the wisecracking conservative who got his start with man-on-the-street interview segments for Fox News opinion host Bill O’Reilly’s 8 p.m. program, is about to enjoy a homecoming of sorts. Watters will take over Fox News’ 8 p.m. hour, assuming a role previously assigned to Tucker Carlson. The move is part of a broad overhaul of Fox News’ primetime schedule that takes place in the wake of Carlson’s sudden ouster and a subsequent decline in viewership at the Fox Corp.-backed outlet. Watters had previously led Fox News’ 7 p.m. show. Fox News will also move Greg Gutfeld into the primetime block, giving him the 10 p.m. hour, while the current occupant, the conservative firebrand Laura Ingraham. takes up the reins of the early-evening 7 p.m. hour. Sean Hannity will keep his perch at 9 p.m., a slot he has held since 2017. Trace Gallagher’s late-night news program, “Fox News @ Night,” will follow Gutfeld at 11 p.m., an hour earlier than its previous midnight slot.

Hannity was mum on the topic at the time, and Fox News denied that any such decision had been made.Shifting Watters’ “Jesse Watters Primetime” from 7 p.m. – where it was launched in January 2022 – to 8 p.m.

Fox News unveiled a new primetime lineup, with Jesse Watters moving to Tucker Carlson’s old 8 p.m. ET time slot and Laura Ingraham slotted earlier in the evening at 7 p.m.

The search for a submersible sent to tour the remains of the Titanic dominated coverage across cable news networks all week, along with the tragic news that the vessel most likely suffered a “catastrophic implosion,” killing all five on board.