NewsNation will host the fourth Republican presidential primary debate on Wednesday, December 6, from 8 to 10 p.m. ET. Megyn Kelly, host of The Megyn Kelly Show on SiriusXM, will moderate alongside Elizabeth Vargas, anchor of Elizabeth Vargas Reports on NewsNation, and Eliana Johnson, editor-in-chief of The Washington Free Beacon. 

The debate will take place at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. 

It will air live on NewsNation, which is owned by Nexstar, and will be simulcast in the Eastern and Central time zones on The CW, also owned by Nexstar. Viewers in the Mountain and Pacific time zones can watch live on NewsNation or see it delayed on their CW television affiliate from 7-9 p.m. MT and 8-10 p.m. PT. The debate will be live-streamed on NewsNationNow.com and on Rumble, and will also air live on SiriusXM Triumph channel 111. 

“All of us at NewsNation are incredibly honored to be hosting a presidential primary debate and to be part of what will be another historic election season,” said Sean Compton, Nexstar’s president of networks. “We are also extremely pleased to have the opportunity to introduce more Americans to NewsNation, a 24-hour national news network committed to delivering outstanding journalism and first-rate political coverage and analysis.” 

Kelly has moderated five GOP primary debates, including the first in the 2016 election cycle, in August 2015, when she was with Fox News. Donald Trump was critical of her moderation, telling CNN days later, “There was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever.”

NBC hosted the third debate November 8. Trump has not shown up for any of them. 

Michael Corn, president of news at NewsNation, said the network’s “mission is to provide fair and unbiased news coverage, and that’s the way we will approach this important debate. We take this responsibility very seriously and are proud to help inform and educate voters and to contribute to the democratic process.”

Megyn Kelly has inked a deal with SiriusXM to host a live weekday radio show.

The Megyn Kelly Show will premiere Sept. 7 and air five days a week from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. ET on SiriusXM's Triumph channel.

Kelly, a former broadcaster for Fox News and NBC, has most recently been hosting a podcast also titled The Megyn Kelly Show.

"I'm thrilled to be taking our program to the next level by broadcasting it live for SiriusXM's massive audience," Kelly said in a statement. "My team and I have been grateful to see our show, in less than a year, become one of the most successful podcasts in America — proving that there is a thirst for open, honest and more meaningful conversations about current events. I can't think of a better partner to help us expand that reach even further than a blue-chip brand like SiriusXM, which has always been a leader in predicting market trends and is perfectly positioned for the evolving manner in which Americans consume their news."

The SiriusXM show will feature interviews and commentary on current events. 

Red Seat Ventures, which handles production and distribution of The Megyn Kelly Show podcast, will produce the show for SiriusXM.

During her tenure at Fox News, Kelly gained a solid fanbase for her aggressive style of interviewing and her takes on current events. Kelly spent more than a decade at Fox News before leaving in January 2017 for NBC, where she anchored Today's 9 a.m. block and hosted a Sunday news mag.

At NBC, Kelly struggled to keep her audience and soon found herself in hot water for remarks she made about white people wearing blackface during Halloween. Her last appearance on the Peacock network was Oct. 24, where she apologized for her remarks.

Fox News Channel will move its Tucker Carlson Tonight show into the 9 p.m. timeslot to fill the void created with the departure of Megyn Kelly.

Tucker Carlson Tonight will replace The Kelly File beginning Jan. 9, according to Fox News officials. The Kelly File will end its run on the network Friday following Kelly’s announcementearlier in the week that she’s moving to NBC News.

Tucker Carlson Tonightlaunched this past November in the 7 p.m. timeslot and last month finished as the second most watched cable news program on Fox News among adults 25-54. Martha MacCallum will take over for Carlson at 7 p.m. with a new series ,The First 100 Days, chronicling President-elect Donald Trump’s first 100 days in office.

“In less than two months, Tucker has taken cable news by storm with his spirited interviews and consistently strong performance,” said Rupert Murdoch, executive chairman of 21st Century Fox and Fox News in a statement. “Viewers have overwhelmingly responded to the show and we look forward to him being a part of Fox News’ powerful primetime line-up.”

Fox News Channel Tuesday said Megyn Kelly’s last appearance on the network as host of The Kelly File will take place on Friday Jan. 6.

Kelly, who hours earlier announced she will leave Fox News for NBC News, has hosted the popular The Kelly File primetime program since 2013. At NBC, Kelly said she will host a daily, daytime show for NBC News as well as contribute to breaking news stories and political coverage, although no start date has been revealed. 

Rupert Murdoch, executive chairman for 21st Century Fox  -- which owns Fox News -- said of Kelly’s departure in a statement: “We thank Megyn Kelly for her 12 years of contributions to Fox News. We hope she enjoys tremendous success in her career and wish her and her family all the best.”   

Fox News Channel veteran anchor Megyn Kelly will join NBC News, NBCUniversal News Group chairman Andrew Lack announced Tuesday.

Kelly, whose The Kelly File program is one of Fox News’ highest rated primetime series, will anchor a one-hour daytime news program that will launch in the coming months, but no date has been given for her debut.

Kelly will also anchor a Sunday evening news magazine show and will become “an important contributor” to NBC breaking news coverage as well as the network’s political and special events coverage, according to Lack.

“Megyn is an exceptional journalist and news anchor, who has had an extraordinary career” Lack said in a statement. “She’s demonstrated tremendous skill and poise, and we’re lucky to have her.”

Kelly in a statement on her Facebook page said: "Over a dozen years ago I started at Fox News in a job that would change my life. Now, I have decided to end my time at FNC, incredibly enriched for the experiences I've had. I have agreed to join NBC News, where I will be launching a new daytime show Monday through Friday, along with a Sunday evening news magazine program. I will also participate in NBC's breaking news coverage and its political and special events coverage. While I will greatly miss my colleagues at Fox, I am delighted to be joining the NBC News family and taking on a new challenge. I remain deeply grateful to Fox News, to Rupert, Lachlan and James Murdoch, and especially to all of the FNC viewers, who have taught me so much about what really matters. More to come soon."

Kelly has anchored The Kelly File since 2013 and has developed the show into the number two highest-rated show on Fox News behind The O’Reilly Factor. But with her contract with Fox ending in 2017 – and with the fallout over the resignation last July of Fox News chairman and CEO Roger Ailes – there had been media speculation on whether Kelly would remain at Fox News.

Fox News finished 2016 as the most watched cable network in primetime, bolstered by The O’Reilly Factor, The Kelly File and the network’s coverage of the 2016 Presidential campaign.

Fox News Channel has named Tom Lowell VP and managing editor of news.

He will report to Jay Wallace, EVP of news and editorial for the cable news network.

Lowell, who has been executive producer of The Kelly File, steps into his new position Jan. 1. FNC did not say who will succeed Lowell at The Kelly File.

Lowell joined FNC in 2003, starting as a producer on Fox News Live. He launched America Live With Megyn Kelly in 2010 and The Kelly File in 2013.

Before joining the network, he was an EP at CBS affiliate WFSB-TV Hartford, Conn.; WCVB-TV Boston (ABC); and Fox affiliate WSVN-TV Miami.

The Republican presidential debates continue to score big ratings for Fox News Channel.

Last night’s debate from Detroit pulled in 16.9 million viewers according to early Nielsen ratings, behind only Fox News’ record-setting Aug. 6 debate telecast which drew 24 million viewers. Overall, the debate is currently the fourth most-watched Republican debate so far during the 2016 political season.

The debate, moderated by Bret Baier, Megyn Kelly and Chris Wallace and featured some heated rhetoric mostly from presidential candidates Donald Trump, Maro Rubio and Ted Cruz, also drew 5.5 million viewers in the adult 25-54 demo.

A special post-debate The O'Reilly Factor last night (11 p.m.-12 a.m.) delivered 7.4 million viewers, marking the show’s highest-rated telecast of the year.

The debate was also a hit on social media, generating 2.3 million tweets reaching a unique audience of 8.6 million Twitter users, according to Nielsen Twitter TV ratings.

GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump took to Twitter to take aim at Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly Monday night (Aug. 24) after her return from vacation.

Trump took issue with her tough -- he said unfair -- questioning at the first Republican debate, took aim on Twitter and in interviews on a host of news shows and, if his Twitter account is any barometer, has clearly not gotten over it.

First Trump fired off this Tweet: "@megynkelly must have had a terrible vacation, she is really off her game. Was afraid to confront Dr. Cornel West. No clue on immigration!"

He followed that with: "I liked The Kelly File much better without @megynkelly. Perhaps she could take another eleven day unscheduled vacation!"

And then: "Megyn needs to go back on vacation. What a waste of an hour on Fox."

The three messages got thousands of retweets and favorites.

Fox had no immediate comment about the new attacks, but others in the Twittersphere did.

"It's shocking actually, CNN's Brian Stelter tweeted. "The GOP frontrunner, trashing Fox's biggest star, retweeting his fans who call @MegynKelly a 'bimbo' and 'a waste.'

Blogger Perez Hilton tweeted, "Donald Trump Attacks Megyn Kelly AGAIN — Is This Bordering On Cyber Bullying?!"

For her part, Kelly has stayed out of the fracas, saying she would do her job "without fear of favor" and leaving it at that.

"This is a tough business, and it is time now to move forward," she said soon after Trump's initial barrage following the GOP debate earlier this month.

As for Trump's reference to the "unscheduled vacation," a Fox spokesperson said when the issue was first raised more than a week ago that "the conspiracy theories about Megyn Kelly’s vacation rank up there with UFOs, the moon landing and Elvis being alive."

"Megyn is on a pre-planned, annual summer vacation with her family, which is much deserved," the spokesperson confirmed. "To imply otherwise, as Donald Trump and his campaign operatives have, is not only wildly irresponsible, but downright bizarre."

Fox News rode its record-setting coverage of the Republican Presidential Debate to an easy first place primetime ratings finish among all cable networks last week.

Fox News averaged 4.4 million viewers for the week of Aug. 3 to Aug. 9, easily besting Disney’s 1.7 million second-place finish, according to Nielsen. Fox News’ performance was paced by live coverage of the Aug. 6  Republican Presidential Debate, which drew 24 million viewers -- the biggest audience for a non-sports cable show in history, according to Nielsen.

In addition, Fox was the most-watched network among nearly all major audience demos, including adults 18-49. The network also garnered seven of the top 10 most watched shows for the week.

TNT and USA Network tied for third place with 1.5 million viewers each, followed by HGTV’s 1.4 million viewers.

History (1.3 million viewers) Discovery Channel (1.2 million); Adult Swim (1.1 million); FX (1.0 million) and Food Network (996,000) rounded out the top 10.

Fox News was also the dominant network on a 24-hour basis, averaging 1.6 million viewers, outdistancing Disney Channel, Nickelodeon, Adult Swim and Cartoon Network.

Most Watched Shows During The Week Of Aug. 3 to Aug. 9

DateProgramNetworkTotal Viewers

8/6     Republican Presidential Debate                  Fox News                    23.9 million

8/6     The Kelly File                                                 Fox News                    10.9 million

8/6     The O’Reilly Factor                                        Fox News                       6.5 million

8/6     Republican Presidential Debate (5.p.m.)   Fox News                       6.0 million

8/6     Special Report With Brett Baier                  Fox News                       4.5 million

8/3     Major Crimes                                                 TNT                                4.5 million

8/4     Rizzoli & Isles                                                 TNT                                4.2 million

8/6     Hannity                                                          Fox News                       4.1 million

8/6     On The Record W/Greta                              Fox News                       3.9 million

8/9     NASCAR Sprint Cup Race                             NBCSN                           3.9 million

Source: Nielsen