Fox News is reportedly looking to finish cleaning house and stabilizing its primetime lineup in the wake of devastating revelations tied to its expensively settled Dominion Voting Systems legal battle. 

Citing unnamed inside sources, the Drudge Report has advanced an earlier story from the Penske Showbiz Trades suggesting major changes to Fox News' primetime lineup are being considered. 

According to Drudge, longtime Fox News primetime presence Sean Hannity will move up one hour from 9 p.m. to 8 p.m., the fired Tucker Carlson's old time slot; Jesse Waters will move from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.; and Greg Gutfeld will shift from 11 p.m. to 10 p.m., the slot currently occupied by Laura Ingraham. 

Meanwhile, reports circulated on Twitter Wednesday afternoon that Ingraham, whose text messages, along with Carlson's, factored into the $787.5 million Dominion settlement, has not just been bumped from primetime, but fired from the network.

UPDATED: After this article was initially published Wednesday, Fox News gave Next TV this statement: “Reports based on various tweets by left wing activists are wildly inaccurate -- Laura Ingraham, the top-rated woman in cable news, is now and will continue to be a prominent host and integral part of the Fox News lineup."

Quoting an unnamed Fox source, Drudge said Fox News is planning to very soon announce its "ambitious new schedule," one in which "every hour of primetime will change." 

Also read: Tucker Carlson Announces New Twitter Show, May Have Breached His Still-Active Fox News Contract in the Process

So far, Fox has issued one statement on the matter, saying, “No decision has been made on a new primetime line-up and there are multiple scenarios under consideration.”

Fox fired Carlson, its most watched on-air presence, last month following a steady string of controversies and dwindling participation in his primetime show by premium advertisers. 

Fox News' ratings performance declined around 50% in the key adults 25-54 audience demo in the immediate aftermath of Carlson's final April 21 show. 

Speaking Wednesday morning at MoffettNathanson’s Inaugural Technology, Media and Telecom Conference in New York, Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch expressed confidence that his channel will successfully transition away from Carlson. (That event was covered by another Penske showbiz trade brand.)

“We’ve done it before, right? You know, Bill O’Reilly was a superstar. Megyn Kelly was a superstar. Glenn Beck was a superstar, and we’re able to move forward with programming decisions that ultimately result in long term growth and profitability of the business,” Murdoch said.

With the Dominion matter behind it, Fox is preparing to defend itself from another libel suit filed against it be a separate voting machine maker, Smartmatic, which claims Fox News' coverage of the 2020 election and subsequent January 6 Insurrection led to its brand being inaccurately impugned on the channel. 

Meanwhile, down the street at Madison Avenue, Fox advertising executives have worked this week's Upfront meetings to assure brand marketers that the network's new primetime lineup will be safe from things like white nationalism and other corrosive elements that the far right Carlson was widely alleged to have courted during is nightly 8 p.m. talk hour. 

Activist groups, however, have also infiltrated the Upfront scene, trying to counter-message that narrative. This includes grassroots Republican org The Lincoln Project.

“Jesse Waters, Brian Kilmeade, Sean Hannity, are not serious people. They are nothing more than mouthpieces in Murdoch’s right-wing propaganda machine," said Reed Galen, Lincoln Project co-founder, in a statement. "The real truth is that [Fox Chairman Rupert Murdoch] hasn’t changed his mind about the direction of the company. Brands need to ask themselves if they want to be associated with an even more extremist version of Fox News.”

Laura Ingraham, host of The Ingraham Angle on Fox News Channel, celebrates 15 years at Fox News, and five years for the show. With The Ingraham Angle hitting the anniversary mark October 30, Ingraham spoke with Broadcasting+Cable about her highlights at Fox News, how much more divided our nation might get, cable news’s role in the great divide, and the guest she’d most like to have on The Ingraham Angle. 

Ingraham said she’d love to have Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the House, on The Ingraham Angle. “I’d actually like to have a real conversation with her because I think she’s super-smart,” Ingraham said. “She’s obviously done an amazing job for her ideological position. I don’t agree with her on pretty much everything, but it would be nice to actually have a conversation with her.”

(Pelosi’s husband was attacked in a home invasion October 28, after Ingraham spoke with B+C.)

Ingraham said they tease Pelosi frequently on the show, but added that it is in good humor. 

Asked if Pelosi has been invited on The Ingraham Angle, Ingraham said it probably happened years ago. “Thank you for reminding me,” she said. “I think we should do it again.”

Her show airs at 10 p.m., leading out of Hannity. Asked what The Ingraham Angle offers that viewers don’t get anywhere else, Ingraham said, a different perspective on the key issues. “I have a unique perspective because I came from the world of government, but the law was my focus for a number of years,” she said. “So I think I have the legal and the conservative movement experience that does set me apart.”

Viewers are “going to hear and see new information and new angles” on the show, she added, even on “stories that you might have heard mentioned earlier in the day.”

With the midterms approaching, Ingraham said America is “on a knife’s edge.” She sees the GOP prevailing in both the House and the Senate November 8. “If you’re the party in power, you can’t spin this. This isn’t a communication problem, this is a policy problem,” she said. 

Ingraham mentioned crime and the economy as the key issues. “People are getting poorer and the country’s getting weaker,” said Ingraham. 

We asked Ingraham about our divided nation, and if that will get worse. She said that the division has become “the accepted narrative” in America, and cited “the government taking over so much of our lives” as a factor, as well as a “media bubble” that lacks diversity of opinion. 

To what degree are cable news outlets, and their political pundits, responsible for the divisiveness? Ingraham did not address the question directly. “I think we’re reflecting what the people feel,” said Ingraham. “I think people are seeing the country they love slip away.”

We also discussed whether these political pundits should be permitted to appear at political rallies, as some Fox News hosts have done in the past. She admitted not having “a great sense about that,” but said she could see a problem for “supposedly objective anchors” speaking at such events. The pundits, whose political viewpoints are a secret to no one, may be in a different group. 

“It’s not a secret that I’m a conservative,” Ingraham added. 

Ingraham’s media consumption touches on just about everything, she said: The Atlantic, The Economist, The Independent (U.K.), BBC, The National Post (Canada) and The Wall Street Journal, among others. “I read a lot of the stuff on the left,” she said, “because I want to know what the left is thinking or what they are planning.”

Ingraham, who worked at MSNBC and CBS News before Fox News, said launching The Ingraham Angle has been the highlight of her 15 years with the company. She called it “exciting, insane … in a good way” and “a fun endeavor.”

“It’s been a great privilege to be given time with viewers every night,” Ingraham said.  ■ 

Fox News on March 26 will air a special edition of its primetime news show The Ingraham Angle focused on education.

The Ingraham Angle Town Hall: Time for Class -- hosted by Laura Ingraham -- will focus on the impact the pandemic has had on Virginia students, teachers, and parents, said the network. Among the topics that will be covered during the special include the challenges of virtual learning and the debate surrounding reopening schools.

The town hall will feature audience-submitted questions as well as additional guests, including former White House senior coronavirus adviser Dr. Scott Atlas and Stanford University medical professor Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, said the network.

Fox News has signed Laura Ingraham to a multi-year deal, which means she will continue to host The Ingraham Angle, which airs weeknights at 10 p.m. ET. Ingraham joined Fox News in 2007 and The Ingraham Angle joined the prime lineup in 2017. 

Deal terms were not disclosed. 

“Laura’s one-of-a-kind expertise and powerful commentary has provided an important voice to millions of Americans as a staple of our primetime lineup and we are thrilled to feature her insightful perspective across our platforms for many years to come,” said Suzanne Scott, CEO of Fox News Media. 

Over the past three years, The Ingraham Angle has posted double-digit gains in total viewers, the 25-54 demographic and the 18-49 demo, according to Fox News, citing Nielsen Media Research. 

“With so many challenges facing Americans, I am more determined than ever to deliver the incisive, pull-no-punches analysis and commentary that our viewers expect and enjoy,” Ingraham said. “It is a great privilege to host an hour each weeknight on Fox News to address the most important, most timely, and sometimes, the most hilarious moments of the day. Our team takes great pride in the work we do—and has fun doing it!"

Ingraham also hosts Laura & Raymond, with Raymond Arroyo, on streaming service Fox Nation. 

The ad boycott against Fox News Channel’s Ingraham Angle has cost the program about half of its commercial minutes and five of its top 20 advertisers, according to Kantar Media.

Kantar found that ad time on the Ingraham Angle was down 40% during the show’s March 30 telecast and down 52% on March 31. The show had been averaging 14 minutes and 33 second of ads during the first quarter.

Host Laura Ingraham announced that she will be on vacation this week. She apologized for remarks she made about David Hogg, one of the students who is advocating for tighter controls on guns after surviving the shooting at Florida’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

Despite the apology, Hogg and others have continued the boycott.

On Monday (April 3), Fox News co-president Jack Abernethy said he expected Ingraham to be back next week. “We cannot and will not allow voices to be censored by agenda-driven intimidation efforts,” he said.

Kantar said that five of the advertisers that have said they will no longer advertise on the Ingraham Angle — Bayer AG Group, Hulu, Johnson & Johnson, Liberty Mutual Insurance and Wayfair — were among the top 20 spenders on the show during the first quarter.

Other advertisers that have pulled out of the show — Entertainment Studios, Honda, Jenny Craig, Jos A Bank, Nestle, Nutrish, Office Depot, Principal Finance, Progressive Insurance, Ruby Tuesday, Stitch Fix and TripAdvisor — accounted for 13% of the show’s commercial time.

Fox News Monday officially announced the Oct. 30 launch of its new primetime news program The Ingraham Angle, starring conservative talk personality Laura Ingraham.

The series will debut in the daily 10 p.m. timeslot on the network, moving the Sean Hannity-hosted series Hannity to the 9 p.m. slot, where it will go head to head with MSNBC’s top rated series The Rachel Maddow Show.

Fox News talk show series The Five, which currently airs at 9 p.m., will move back to its former 5 p.m. time slot, according to Fox.

The move comes nearly two weeks after Fox News cancelled its 5 p.m. show The Fox News Specialists after that show's host Eric Bolling parted ways with the network after sexual harrassment allegations surrounding Bolling surfaced. 

 “We are delighted to unveil this new primetime schedule for both our current and future generation of loyal FNC fans,” said Suzanne Scott, Fox news president of programming in a statement. “Over the last decade, Laura’s extraordinary insight, expertise and strong voice have connected with our viewers across the network’s programming. We look forward to her providing the audience with her exceptional commentary, engaging insight and spirited debate.”

According to Fox News, The Ingraham Angle will feature Ingraham as she challenges decision makers to focus on everyday, hard-working Americans as well as highlight the importance of faith in our nation and reveal stories that showcase the American spirit.

The announcement comes as Fox News remains among the most watched networks on cable television. The network was the highest rated network in primetime this past summer and has either held or shared the top spot on the weekly primetime cable ratings charts for the last 16 weeks, according to Nielsen.