As Fox News continues to rotate guest hosts for the timeslot previously occupied by Tucker Carlson, Will Cain will get the opportunity to host the Fox News Tonight program this week.
The network announced the Fox & Friends Weekend host will anchor the 8:00 PM ET window this week. Brian Kilmeade, Lawrence Jones, and Kayleigh McEnany have each hosted the program after the network unceremoniously fired Tucker Carlson in late April.
In addition to his work for Fox & Friends Weekend, Cain hosts a podcast for Fox News. He joined the network in 2020 after spending just under five years at ESPN, including two years as a nationally syndicated host on ESPN Radio. He was also a political analyst at CNN and worked at The Blaze before jumping to ESPN.
In the Fox News Tonight timeslot, the network is hoping Cain — who is widely considered a potential frontrunner to replace Carlson in the window — can regain some of the audience lost under previous guest hosts.
After averaging more than 3 million viewers for each episode of Tucker Carlson Tonight, the program has seen audiences of less than half of that figure since Carlson’s exit.
Last week, former Fox News host Tucker Carlson sent shockwaves through the media landscape after announcing he’d relaunch his nightly television show on social media platform Twitter. However, MSNBC host Jen Psaki doesn’t appear to be a believer that the new setup will be a successful one.
In a post to MSNBC.com, the Inside host argued that Carlson’s loyal followers fall into older age ranges, and aren’t likely to follow him to an unfamiliar platform.
“Are Carlson’s millions of nightly watchers really going to seek out his hate speech on a platform largely designed for scrolling?” the former White House Press Secretary questioned.
She then pondered what Carlson’s future looked like without the backing of Fox News.
“Carlson is now without the backing of America’s most-watched cable network. How many 65-year-olds are going to drastically change their routine?”
Psaki also argued that “This may not be the last format Carlson engages with” as details of what his contract language with Fox News dictates in regard to his potential video endeavors remains to be seen.
She asked for the opinion of NBC News dark web expert Ben Collins, who agreed that the situation might be less than ideal for Carlson.
“I don’t think he understands. He’s just some guy on Twitter now,” concluded Collins.
This is not a retirement announcement, but rather an endeavor into a prospective media career as Matt Ryan inked a deal to serve as a studio and game analyst for the NFL on CBS. Ryan, who spent 15 years in the NFL as a quarterback with the Atlanta Falcons and Indianapolis Colts, is currently a free agent and will be on the call for games this year, according to a CBS spokesperson.
“It is truly an honor to join this exceptional team at CBS Sports,” Ryan said. “I have been blessed to have incredible teammates throughout my career and I am fortunate that will continue here working with and learning from the very best in the industry.”
Ryan’s roles and responsibilities will include providing live game analysis on select matchups throughout the course of the 2023 regular season. Additionally, he will work as an analyst for studio programming on both CBS and CBS Sports Network, including The NFL Today, NFL Monday QB and That Other Pregame Show among others. He appeared on CBS Sports as a guest analyst in February and was reportedly considering pursuing a career in sports media according the New York Post
“As one of the NFL’s marquee quarterbacks for the past 15 years, we’re thrilled to add Matt to our talented roster of NFL analysts,” said Harold Bryant, executive producer and executive vice president of production at CBS Sports. “He has played the game at the highest level, including winning an MVP award and taking his team to the Super Bowl, and will bring a fresh perspective to CBS Sports. We look forward to Matt sharing his knowledge, insight and opinions with our viewers and bolstering our NFL coverage.”
Excited to join the @NFLonCBS family! Looking forward to breaking down the game this season.
Before joining the Indianapolis Colts, Ryan made a name for himself with the Atlanta Falcons, the team that selected him third overall in the 2008 NFL Draft. He is the franchise record holder for passing yards (59,735) and touchdowns (367), and was selected to four Pro Bowls during his 14 years with the team. Now, he will join an analyst rotation featuring an array of former quarterbacks, including Tony Romo, Boomer Esiason and Phil Simms.
A weekend report from Puck’s Dylan Byers claimed CNN media reporter Oliver Darcy was summoned to the office of CNN CEO Chris Licht over his encapsulation that Licht was receiving strong pushback both internally and externally for the network’s decision to host a town hall event with former President Donald Trump. Podcaster — and longtime Licht critic — Keith Olbermann took issue with the development.
To begin Countdown with Keith Olbermann Monday, the former cable news host scanned the reporting surrounding the purported meeting, noting the conflicting details between Byers’ reporting, Semafor’s Max Tani’s report, and a story from Fox News on the meeting.
In one report, Darcy has reportedly questioned whether he should resign at risk of being fired, with another report claiming that Darcy and Licht left the meeting cordially, with the CEO expressing his support for the reporter.
“So now instead of bullying and threatening Oliver Darcy, we have Licht, instead, having a quote ally of his leak — to of all places — Fox that CNN employees were all on Licht’s side, not Darcy’s side,” Olbermann said. “There’s the Chris Licht at MSNBC I knew and loathed.
“It was Licht of course who — when plucked from his failures at late night with Stephen Colbert, which had followed his failures at CBS Mornings, which themselves had followed his failures on Morning Joe and Scarborough Country — vowed to make sure all voices were heard at the new CNN. Except for Oliver Darcy, who also again I note, still has not been publicly or non-anonymously supported by anyone else at CNN. Who may or may not have had ‘the fear of god put in him’ by Chris Licht, but has had the fear of unemployment.”
Last week, World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (WWE) divulged over 500 pages of files pertaining to its ongoing acquisition by Endeavor Group Holdings, Inc. and plan to merge with the United Fighting Championship to form a publicly traded company. Nick Khan, chief executive officer of the WWE, released a letter to stockholders regarding the transaction and the automatic conversion of WWE common stock shares.
It also revealed that WWE executive chairman Vince McMahon owned shares equivalent to approximately 81% of the voting power, and that a condition of the deal with Endeavor was that McMahon would have to remain with the company. McMahon resigned from the WWE last July during investigations into allegations of sexual misconduct, but returned to the company this past January. For now, the publicly traded company is known as New Whale, Inc.; however, it was revealed that the name will be changed at some point in the future.
The WWE drew considerable interest from the time it was put up for sale, with more than 60 counterparties exploring a potential acquisition. Some of these entities included strategic companies, sovereign wealth funds and financial sponsors, and they all explored buying and/or merging with the company. Twenty of the 60 counterparties inked confidentiality agreements pertaining to the transaction process in February and March, including Endeavor. The first proposal from Endeavor was made the day the confidentiality agreement was signed – Feb. 7, 2023 – a merger where it would own 57% of the WWE, a total valuation of $9.3 billion.
Additionally, the WWE received three proposals from entities who wanted to purchase the entire company, with one proposal valuing each share of the company between $95 and $100, but they all required some form of outside financing. Conversely, the Endeavor offer valued shares at $105.98 apiece, and, as a result, the WWE board tried to have two of the three aforementioned entities partner with one another to bid against Endeavor.
Later in March, McMahon and Khan met with Endeavor executives Ari Emanuel and Mark Shapiro where a proposal by the WWE was made giving Endeavor 51% ownership. The deal was ultimately completed when McMahon agreed to remain with the company as its executive chairman. During the weekend of Wrestlemania, the deal was officially finalized when the senior management and board signed off on it after being informed by its financial team that the Endeavor deal was conducive to the time frame.
Several WWE executives will receive compensation upon the completion of the Endeavor deal, including McMahon ($16 million) and Khan ($72 million). The deal will cultivate a $21 billion sports entertainment company with “global reach, impressive scale and omnichannel distribution.”
In fiscal year 2022, WWE and UFC generated a combined $2.4 billion in revenue, a 10% annual revenue growth rate since 2019. Emanuel will serve as the CEO, McMahon will be the executive chairman of the board and Shapiro will be the president and chief operating officer. Khan and Dana White will both remain as presidents of WWE and UFC, respectively. The new property will also hold about $150 million in cash to be contributed by the WWE and UFC, and also presumably be responsible for negotiating new media rights deals for both properties in the near future. The deal is expected to close in the second half of 2023.
Atlanta conservative news/talk station XTRA 106.3 FM has added a new afternoon show as part of a slight station lineup change.
The Kimmer Show with Kim “The Kimmer” Peterson and Pete Davis has been added in the 3:00-6:00 PM ET window. The show replaces The Guy Benson Show, a nationally syndicated show from Fox News Radio, in the lineup.
Peterson worked in the market from 1992 to 2006 at 640 WGST. He then retired before making a comeback at Cumulus-owned Talk 106.7 in 2013 until the company sold the station in 2019. He also briefly hosted a program on 1010 WTZA in the Georgia capital. He then launched a podcast, which XTRA 106.3 FM began airing “best of” segments on weekends.
“As our listenership grew, the demand for a local afternoon show grew. Our social media and phones all asked for the same thing, The Kimmer Show,” XTRA 106.3 FM Content Director Tug Cowart said. “How could we go any other route? A local and iconic Atlanta talk radio voice and what our listeners wanted from us. It’s the way these decisions are supposed to made.”
Additionally, the station’s morning show — The Morning XTRA with Tug, Rhino, and Los — will extend to 10:00 AM. The Glenn Beck Program will now be heard from 10:00 AM-Noon.
Both changes will take effect on Monday, June 5th.
Fanatics is adding a little turbo boost to the growth of its sports betting business. It’s offering PointsBet $150 million in cash to acquire the Australian sports betting giant’s US operations.
It did not take long for PointsBet to find a buyer. It announced just last month that it wanted out of the US market.
Fanatics’ own Sportsbook is currently in beta testing in Tennessee and Ohio. The company expects to gain access to the fifteen states where PontsBet was operating. The majority of those new states are expected to approve Fanatics’ operation in time for a new football season.
In the United States, the two companies were heading in opposite directions. PointsBet forecasts losing up to $82 million in 2023. Fanatics, on the other hand, projects revenue in excess of $8 billion.
Acquisition has been a key strategy in the growth of new businesses under the Fanatics umbrella. Last year, it gave its trading card company a boost by purchasing Topps for $500 million.
On Sunday’s Media Buzz, Howard Kurtz of Fox News criticized the “circus-like atmosphere” that surrounded Donald Trump’s CNN town hall with Kaitlan Collins. Kurtz opened the show by airing several heated exchanges between Trump and Collins regarding his false claims about the 2020 election and the events of January 6th.
“The first 24 minutes of the CNN event were spent on two of Donald Trump’s recurring subjects: the 2020 election and the Capitol riot,” Kurtz said. “That ensured a clash from the start. CNN’s own postgame show grappled with what had just happened.”
He then invited Robby Soave and Ameshia Cross to join him in discussing what he described as an “unwatchable” town hall. Kurtz asked his guests whether CNN had underestimated the difficulty of fact-checking Trump in real-time as he dominated the discussion, despite Collins’ sharp and poised questioning style, especially considering her relatively young age in journalism.
Soave recognized the criticisms aimed at the town hall format, which encouraged the audience to cheer up Trump’s rebuttals to Collins’ fact-checking and tough inquiries. In response, Kurtz queried, “What was CNN anticipating?”
Kurtz noted that CNN has been experiencing significant backlash, especially after Anderson Cooper’s widely criticized defense of the town hall. Returning to Collins, he commented on the “circus-like atmosphere” that arose when the audience cheered as Trump attacked E. Jean Carroll, who a Manhattan jury had just found to be a victim of his sexual abuse.
Despite the criticisms, CNN has defended the town hall, with a spokesperson for the network stating that Kaitlan Collins demonstrated what it means to be a world-class journalist. The spokesperson praised Collins for asking tough, fair, and revealing questions and for fact-checking President Trump in real-time to provide voters with crucial information about his positions as he enters the 2024 election as the Republican frontrunner.
“She (Collins) covered the Trump White House, and apparently the former president was comfortable with her, I don’t know if he would’ve done it (town hall), with some of CNN’s people.”
During an appearance on Fox Across America with Jimmy Failla, media columnist Joe Concha suggested that Anderson Cooper should have been fired by CNN for his remarks regarding the network following the Trump town hall event, which Kaitlin Collins moderated.
“The backlash is so bad that Anderson freaking Cooper goes on the air during his 8:00 PM show and says, and I’m paraphrasing here, ‘I don’t blame any of you, if you never want to watch this network again,’” said Concha. “I would go full (George) Steinbrenner on that guy and fire him, like mid-commercial.”
Concha asserts that Donald Trump is the frontrunner for the GOP party nomination, having garnered more votes than any previous Republican presidential candidate. Concha said Trump’s attendance at events is noteworthy and demands media coverage.
“You have this internal embarrassment at CNN that they did this town hall, so the next time I have to hear a person say, ‘they’re pivoting back to the middle,’ not they ain’t. They’re Democratic activists. My big question going forward is that are all the other news organizations, not named Fox, going to look at all the hashtag boycott CNN posts and look at those and say maybe we shouldn’t put Trump on either.”
Concha also suggested that mainstream media outlets may be hesitant to cover events involving Trump due to the influence of cancel culture. Some activists masquerade as journalists may attempt to suppress coverage of the former president.
“It’s so embarrassing for people who claim they’re not biased,” added Failla.
Cooper, however, has received backlash from those on the other side of the political aisle for his statements that were in defense of the network’s decision to hold the town hall event.
“Do you think staying in your silo and only listening to people you agree with is going to make that person go away? If we all only listen to those we agree with, it may actually do the opposite,” Cooper said.
A Fox News report revealed that CNN reporter Oliver Darcy was reportedly unhappy after being reprimanded by CEO Chris Licht for his “emotional” coverage of the network’s town hall event with former President Donald Trump.
During the meeting, Licht and other network executives expressed their frustrations with the criticism from left-leaning media and politicians, and Darcy was said to have been present.
After the town hall broadcast, Darcy’s Reliable Sources newsletter seemed to criticize his employer. Darcy wrote that CNN and its new boss, Chris Licht, were receiving a lot of criticism, both from within the company and from external sources, following the event. This allegedly upset other staffers, who expressed their frustrations with the CEO.
During the meeting, Licht urged Darcy to remain objective and avoid getting too emotional. He emphasized the importance of providing fair and balanced coverage of all news outlets, not just CNN.
CNN received criticism for giving the ex-president, making his third presidential bid, a platform to reiterate baseless claims that the 2020 election was fraudulently stolen. Additionally, the former president derided E. Jean Carroll, the author who successfully sued him for sexual assault and defamation, despite his denial of the allegations.
In a contentious moment during the CNN town hall, the former president insulted moderator Kaitlan Collins by calling her a “nasty person,” which was met with applause from the audience. In his newsletter’s opening statement, Darcy doubted the value of broadcasting falsehoods on national television.
Licht does not appear to have any remorse and instead commends Collins, who is anticipated to be promoted from co-hosting CNN’s morning program to the 9:00 PM primetime slot, as a rising network personality.
In a staff meeting on Wednesday morning, Licht stated, according to the audio provided to The New York Post, “You may not agree with the ex-president’s responses, but you cannot deny that we obtained them.”
