Fox News— once a proud-to-be-a-Republican network— has crashed and burned since firing beloved former host Tucker Carlson.
According to a report, Fox Nation, the network's streaming service for non-cable viewers, "is basically over" now that Carlson is no longer in the picture to bring in most of its audience.
Last month, the streaming platform began cutting staff after its massive $787 million settlement with Dominion Voting Systems. On top of the damaging loss, Fox Nation lost a notable amount of subscribers after its arguably most popular host departed the scene.
"Fox Nation is basically over without Tucker," a network insider told the Daily Beast. "They're not shutting it down, and probably never will, but they're really cutting it back."
In response, Fox News issued a statement saying, debunking the report.
“Once again, the Daily Beast’s reporting on FOX News is wildly inaccurate, which is probably the reason why they’re a money-losing business. There is no scaling back at FOX Nation — we just had our best year ever with more programming, viewers, and revenue and one of the highest conversion/lowest churn rates in the industry," a Fox News spokesperson said.
In February, Rupert Murdoch's son Lachlan Murdoch, boasted that "Fox Nation [has] accelerated subscriber growth over the last quarter and last year and had the best quarter ever for engagement in terms of hours viewed, no doubt driven by brilliant fresh content like Yellowstone 150."
However, by May this year, the Right-wing network suffered a quarterly loss after its Dominion settlement. The network, worth over $16 billion, contracted more than five percent in the past year.
Longtime fans of Carlson's vowed to boycott Fox News following his ousting, with the Daily Beast reporting that the network has since had to scale back immensely following the loss. Carlson's exit from his primetime spot also reportedly resulted in a massive decline in viewers, while his new Twitter show has exceeded millions in viewership.
At least nine staff members who worked with Carlson at Fox quit their positions at the network to join the conservative's new Twitter show.
This comes as the network announced significant programming changes to its lineup.
Debuting on July 17, . Laura Ingraham will kick off the primetime block at 7:00 p.m. ET, followed by Jesse Watters, who will take the 8:00 p.m. hour, previously held by Tucker Carlson Tonight.
Sean Hannity will remain in his current 9:00 p.m. slot. However, Greg Gutfeld's late-night comedy skit will move an hour earlier to 10:00 p.m. Trace Gallagher's "Fox News @ Night" will shift to 11:00 p.m. from midnight. ET.
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