Neil Cavuto asked Roger Ailes to address the rumors going around today about Megyn Kelly getting the 9PM time slot on Fox News. In short, he said he doesn’t confirm or deny rumors, however he made sure to point out that he’s renewed contracts with all premiere talent and that everyone is coming back.
He did suggest some changes with Shep in delivering the news though, but he didn’t go into detail about their plans.
Below is a partial transcript of the video:
AILES: Well, generally I don’t confirm or deny any rumors; that’s a rumor at the moment. However Megyn has earned a better time period, she’ll be in our prime time lineup. But I must quickly say that all of our stars will be back. We have new deals with Hannity and Greta and Shep.
Shep and I have been working quietly on something we’ll roll out, probably in mid September, about how news is presented. I think it’s kinda done in an old fashioned way and I think we have a better way of working on it. So Shep, who is my view the premiere news man in the country – everybody wanted to hire him, he agreed to stay with us. And I think you’ll see some changes that are good.
I think Greta’s won her time period every since she’s been there. She kinda put Anderson Cooper away. She’s a great interviewer, tireless worker.
And Hannity is a brand that many of our viewers love and want to see. And he’s also, as you know, probably the nicest guy in the building other than you (Cavuto), of course. But Hannity is a strong brand. The difference between Hannity and everybody else – MSNBC – you know, he’s a conservative. But he has liberals on every night from Al Sharpton to whoever to argue with. If you watch the other channels, they’ll never book a conservative to argue with. So his is much better programmed and it’s reflected in his ratings, because he’s fearless.
We have a great roster of talent. I am making a few minor changes but let me just say that since Fox News Channel came on, MSNBC and CNN have changed either their prime time lineup of shows or their prime time talent 64 times. I think maybe I’ve changed it five or six [times]. So you have to choose well in the first place and have the guts to stay with people who can do the job. And that’s what I try to do.
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CAVUTO: Alright so just to be clear, to wrap this up, you’ve resigned all the premiere prime time talent, no one is going anywhere.
AILES: No one’s gone. No one’s leaving.