Trump is on a roll: having dispatched of Ford's Mexican facility plans, followed shortly by the GOP's proposal to overhaul the independent Ethics office just just a handful of tweets, moments ago the NYT reported that Trump's old Fox News nemesis, Megyn Kelly is leaving Fox to join NBC.
According to the Times report, Kelly will take a “triple role” at NBC: hosting a daytime news and discussion show, anchoring a Sunday night news show and being a central part of the network’s special coverage of politics and other big events. Kelly's departure is certainly not due to her ratings: she was the second-most-watched anchor on cable news, behind only Fox’s Bill O’Reilly.
More details from the NYT:
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 amount, people briefed on the negotiations said on Tuesday.
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 departure would 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.
Kelly appears to also be taking a pay cut with her depatrure: 21st Century Fox, controlled by the family of Rupert Murdoch, had reportedly offered Kelly more than $20 million a year to stay after her current contract expires this year. Accrding to the NYT, "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."
And all of this in a day's work for Trump who is not even president for another 17 days.
Below is the press release just issued by NBC News
MEGYN KELLY JOINS NBC NEWSKelly to Anchor New Daytime News Program & Primetime Magazine Show
JANUARY 3, 2017 — Megyn Kelly, one of America’s most prominent news anchors, will join NBC News, it was announced today by Andrew Lack, Chairman of the NBCUniversal News Group.
Kelly will become anchor of a new one hour daytime program that she will develop closely with NBC News colleagues. The show will air Monday through Friday at a time to be announced in the coming months.
As part of the multi-year agreement, Kelly will also anchor a new Sunday evening news magazine show and will become an important contributor to NBC’s breaking news coverage as well as the network’s political and special events coverage.
Details about both of Kelly’s news programs will be unveiled in the coming months.
“Megyn is an exceptional journalist and news anchor, who has had an extraordinary career” Lack said. “She’s demonstrated tremendous skill and poise, and we’re lucky to have her.”
Kelly joins NBC News at a time when all four broadcasts in the division – “TODAY,” “NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt,” “Meet the Press,” and “Dateline NBC” – are leading in the key 25-54 news demo and the coveted 18-49 demo in the 2016-17 season to date. All four shows also won those same two demos in the November sweep period, the first time that has happened since 2002.
Kelly has consistently delivered top ratings while maintaining a uniquely strong connection with her viewers and an important voice on social media. Since 2013, Kelly has anchored FOX News Channel’s (FNC) The Kelly File, which she helped to create. The Kelly File is consistently the number one news program in overall viewers on cable news and first among the critical 25-54 demo audience. It is also the number two show in all of cable news. She joined FNC in 2004 as a Washington-based correspondent.