Finally I can start watching her again but will keep the mute button close at hand just in case.



JAN. 3, 2017
Megyn Kelly, who arrived at Fox News 12 years ago as a television news neophyte but rose to become one of its two biggest stars, has decided to leave the network to take on a broad new role at NBC News for an undisclosed salary, NBC announced Tuesday afternoon.

The NBC News chairman, Andrew Lack, wooed Ms. Kelly away from Fox News by offering her a triple role in which she will host her own daytime news and discussion program, anchor an in-depth Sunday night news show and take regular part in the network’s special political programming and other big-event coverage.

The move will herald a seismic shift in the cable news landscape, where Ms. Kelly had become the second-most watched host — after Bill O’Reilly of Fox News — and often helped define the national political debate, especially over the last year as Donald J. Trump regularly attacked her, at times in viciously personal terms.

Ms. Kelly’s exit will upend Fox News’s vaunted prime-time lineup and inject a new dose of tumult just a few months after the departure of the network’s powerful founding chairman, Roger Ailes, who was ousted after several women made allegations that he sexually harassed them.

The new deal brings to a close the most anticipated television news contract negotiations since Katie Couric signed with CBS News in 2006, for $15 million a year.

Fox News’s parent company, 21st Century Fox, which is controlled by the family of Rupert Murdoch, had offered Ms. Kelly more than $20 million a year to stay after her current contract expires this summer. Rival networks seeking to hire Ms. Kelly away, including NBC News, had made it clear that they could not match that money from Fox, the cable news leader for the last 15 years running.

Ms. Kelly’s last day on her show, “The Kelly File,” will be Friday.

People briefed on the talks, who would only speak on the condition of anonymity pending an announcement, declined to disclose what Ms. Kelly’s new annual salary would be at NBC. But even a modest raise would place her among television’s highest paid journalists. The Wall Street Journal recently reported she was to collect $15 million for the final year of her contract.

In its announcement, NBC said the daytime program would run Monday through Friday at a time to be determined. It is unclear how NBC News would ensure that all of its affiliates would carry it, given that daytime television is often filled with syndicated programs. But people familiar with the discussions said NBC was confident that it would not be a problem.

The daytime program would be a mix of news, interviews and panel-like discussions covering a range of issues, not only government and politics.

The Sunday night program, which is yet to be named, would provide Ms. Kelly with a continued hand in hard news. And she would be in the mix on NBC News during major political coverage. The network said more details about her role would be announced in the coming months.

In a statement on Facebook announcing her move to NBC, Ms. Kelly thanked Mr. Murdoch and his sons, Lachlan and James, along with “the FNC viewers, who have taught me so much about what really matters.” She said her time at Fox News “changed my life,” but it was time for a new challenge.

“Megyn is an exceptional journalist and news anchor, who has had an extraordinary career,” Mr. Lack said in a statement. “She’s demonstrated tremendous skill and poise, and we’re lucky to have her.”

Ms. Kelly had hinted in interviews and in her recently released memoir, “Settle for More,” that the highest bid would not decide her future; she said she was seeking a role that would give her more time with her three young children while allowing her to extend her range beyond the constant political combat of cable news.

In recent months, some of that combat was taking place inside the Fox News headquarters, after Ms. Kelly’s allegation that Mr. Ailes — a mentor and early champion of her career — had sexually harassed her. (Mr. Ailes has denied her charges and the others.)

Her allegation was one of several that came to light after another Fox News anchor, Gretchen Carlson, filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against Mr. Ailes in July. In a subsequent investigation commissioned by 21st Century Fox, 20 or more women, including Ms. Kelly, reported inappropriate behavior by Mr. Ailes. But because of her stature at the network and her once close relationship with Mr. Ailes, Ms. Kelly’s account proved instrumental in his ouster.

In her book, Ms. Kelly described her decision to step forward as a painful one that came in the face of a networkwide campaign to support Mr. Ailes, which she viewed as potentially intimidating to other accusers. Her decision to share her story with investigators drew apparent enmity from some rival stars, with the resentment lingering as she deliberated her next career move.

Most prominent among them was Mr. O’Reilly, who said in an interview on CBS News about allegations against Mr. Ailes that Ms. Kelly shared in her book, “I’m not interested in making my network look bad.”

Later that day, he continued the thought in a commentary on his own show in which he appeared to question Ms. Kelly’s loyalty to Fox by saying, without naming her: “If somebody is paying you a wage, you owe that person or company allegiance. If you don’t like what’s happening in the workplace, go to human resources or leave.”

(The new leadership of Fox News, Bill Shine and Jack Abernethy, recently revamped the human resources department; current and former Fox News staff members had said that they did not take complaints to the department under Mr. Ailes for fear of retaliation.)

Mr. O’Reilly’s contract is also up later this year. The television news and political worlds were closely watching for Ms. Kelly’s decision as an indication of the network’s future in its post-Ailes era. The speculation — and it was just that — went that one or the other would depart and that a decision by Ms. Kelly to renew would indicate a shift to a more nuanced ideological sensibility.

Over the years, Ms. Kelly, who views herself as more of a news analyst than opinion host, had developed a broader style in the more ideological confines of the Fox News prime-time slate, frequently upsetting expectations for a nighttime Fox personality — for instance, publicly taking on the Republican nominee for president with whom Mr. Ailes was friendly (upon leaving Fox, Mr. Ailes would go on to serve as an informal adviser to Mr. Trump).

James and Lachlan Murdoch, who help run 21st Century Fox, while making clear they want a modern workplace environment at Fox News, have also said the network would not shift away from what Lachlan Murdoch called its “unique and important voice.” That voice continues to propel Fox News to the top of the cable news ratings in the nascent Trump era.

Nonetheless, in an interview with The Wall Street Journal in the fall, Rupert Murdoch said money would be no object in keeping Ms. Kelly.

People familiar with Ms. Kelly’s deliberations said she was entertaining several attractive possibilities, including at CNN and ABC News and in syndicated television.

Ms. Kelly was holding the discussions during a bruising year of campaign coverage in which she often became the story because of Mr. Trump’s attacks.

One person briefed on Ms. Kelly’s deliberations said that Mr. Lack, the NBC News chairman, won over Ms. Kelly by starting the talks with a question about what she was seeking, instead of flatly offering possibilities. He then came back with a deal that was tailored to her preferences. A daytime show would give her a schedule that would allow her to see her children off to school and to have dinner with them and her husband, Douglas Brunt, a novelist.

 

I think Donald didn't like her because he knew that was some pussy he would never get to grab.

 

Good riddance. I never watch nbc.

 

She was more interested with being the news instead of reporting the news. She is a self absorbed egomaniac that hit her peak years ago. Her ratings have went down considerably at FOX and I doubt she will be missed as her colleagues at FOX news were growing tired of her constant need for attention.

And on a side note, does anyone watch NBC news anyway? Do they really think this will improve their ratings???

 

Let me guess, you would like to see some asshat like Laura Ingraham fill the Kelly Files slot ???

Mainstream media ratings are on the skids across the board and "citizen journalists" (bloggers) are slowly taking over which is a dangerous trend IMO.

Personally I think she is hot and enjoy watching her deliver her drivel that she calls news lol.

 

I am guessing $100,000,000 swayed her. Only a guess.

 

Well it doesn't matter to me who fills the vacancy, as I do not watch anyway.

However, anyone who's not promoting their book or doing personal interviews with other media outlets and pursuing a celebrity status and lifestyle would probably do just fine.

 

We will just have to see how this works out for her. I wish her well but this doesn't affect me personally so I really don't care one way or the other.

 

NBC is spending a lot of cash to try to resurrect their falling viewership. This is kinda like if the Rams went after Neon Deion, it's a few years too late.

 

She was a victim of sexual misconduct from her boss for the longest time until she stood up to him and knew that she would not have her contract renewed due to his ousting last year that she was directly responsible for, saving countless other women from having to deal with that piece of shit.

Self promotion was a little tasteless I will give you that but she was about to be shit on by management so she used her position to do what had to be done and I would have done the same thing and more had it been me in the position.

Most of the people that dislike Megyn do so because she made Trump look like the pig that he is and their beef isn't with her ability because if it were they would need to back off as she is more than capable as a journalist.

 

If sexual misconduct was an issue, than why didn't she say something when it happen? Why did she wait for another woman to come forward? She was not a child, she was a grown woman who by all indications can take care of herself...

Besides, that has nothing to do with what I posted with regards to her journalist style.

Trump's star is rising while Megyn's is falling...

 

Granted she could have come forward sooner but as is the case with most sexual misconduct, the woman is made to feel like the aggressor and not the victim.

Let us just agree to disagree on her as we will never be on the same page as far as she goes. I will say that I had the pleasure of meeting her personally late last year when she signed her book for me during a meeting set up by a news outlet that I contract for. I found her to be personable, intelligent, cute and she has a great sense of humor but that doesn't mean I believe everything that comes out of her mouth.

Her star is only falling with Trumpy's that got all bent out of shape when she panned him. She is still very relevent as far as drawing power ...

On a sidenote to the falling star comment, Barrack Obama is poised to make 500 million dollars during his speaking tour in this and next year alone so he is also still relevent ...

 

This is an example of how the left viewed Megyn just a coupe of years ago:

 

Shooter for one doesn't really care where Megyn or Laura or for that matter Rush or any of them end up.
First, they are not journalists, not in the league of Cronkite or Jennings or Huntley or Cosell or Reasoner.

Second, they are talking heads; entertainers, and Shooter puts them in the same category as Kardashian; to be ignored at all times.

 

She has stated that she wants more time with her young children so good for her.

 

Color me crazy but I am still looking for the "disgusting" part ???

 

I will agree with you there as they are more commentators than journalists.

I was devastated when Peter Jennings passed away as he was a dear friend and stayed with us during the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary.

 

I was wrong. Fox News allegedly offered $100,000,000 package. NBC News must have offered more money. Wow, just wow.

 

Megyn Kelly’s Ratings Sink to ‘Possible All-Time Low’ — NBC Chairman is in ‘Big Trouble’

Megyn Kelly just can’t catch a break, or so it appears. Ever since the NBC host began her tough coverage of President Trump during the election, it appears Kelly has fallen out of favor with Americans. A network insider has harsh criticism for the former Fox News host, branding her morning show debut “an implosion.”






NBC host Megyn Kelly’s first week hosting her new morning show had a rocky start and was “like an implosion,” according to a network insider.


Kelly, a former attorney and host of “Megyn Kelly Today,” appeared to be in her element last Friday when she interviewed Chris Darden, the famous prosecutor in the O.J. Simpson murder case, and Fred and Kim Goldman, father and sister of the slain Ron Goldman, ahead of Simpson’s release from prison. But the former prime-time Fox News host has struggled to adapt to the more light-hearted nature of morning television, and her new show was largely criticized by viewers and guests during its first week, Vanity Fair reported Monday night.

It’s been an utter disaster for Megyn Kelly since kicking things off at NBC. The New York Post reports Kelly’s Sunday show has been pulled two episodes sooner than scheduled due to poor ratings. Ouch.

Celebrity publicists are refusing to book their clients on Kelly’s new show amid reports NBC is freaking out over how poorly the show is doing. Kelly had a terribly awkward interview with Jane Fonda, where she asked the actress about her plastic surgery. Fonda was far from pleased.


A number of publicists who spoke to Variety expressed discomfort with the idea of booking their clients in the third hour of “Today,” which has now been retitled “Megyn Kelly Today.” These publicists, however, said they are still eager to take their talent to other blocs of the morning show. “I’m not booking anyone on her show,” says a high-powered publicist, with a roster of big names, who asked for anonymity due to her overall relationship with “Today.” “I literally haven’t pitched anyone even from right out the gate. The buzz that is out there is so bad.”

Another well-known publicist, who represents one of the celebrities who has appeared on Kelly’s show, wasn’t pleased with the interview. “I won’t plan to have others go on,” the publicist said. “None specifically have been offered or asked to, but it’ll be my preference not to.”

Now this…

Kelly’s ratings are so bad that they’ve sunken to a ‘possible all-time low.’ Even NBC /MSNBC chairman Andy Lack is in trouble, reports an insider to Page Six.

New York Post reports:

A big get with Harvey Weinstein accuser Lauren Sivan wasn’t big enough to pull Megyn Kelly out of her ratings slump.

Her “Megyn Kelly Today” viewership slipped from 0.77 ratings points on Monday to 0.54 ratings points on Tuesday of last week.

“It’s a possible all-time low for ‘Today.’ It may even be lower than her [Fox] cable show. [NBC News president] Noah [Oppenheim] and [NBC News and MSNBC chairman] Andy [Lack] are in big trouble,” a source told us.

[…]
“It’s unthinkable. You don’t see Matt [Lauer] or Savannah [Guthrie] on MSNBC … It’s not a good sign.”

As TGP previously reported, things were not going well for Megyn Kelly over the summer. The NBC host’s show “Sunday Night with Megyn Kelly” reported awful ratings in mid-July.

 

She made a major miscalculation. The same miscalculation many of today's celebrities are making...