Fox News adds another hour of opinion programming to its evening schedule

Fox News Channel is removing one of its only nighttime hours of news coverage and replacing it with a right-wing opinion show, signifying a further shift toward the incendiary programming that Fox viewers overwhelmingly prefer.

The 7 p.m. hour, anchored by Martha MacCallum and called “The Story,” will become “Fox News Primetime” and will be led by a “rotating” cast of opinion hosts, a Fox spokesperson said Monday morning.

The overhaul of the 7 p.m. hour is partly a response to ratings pressures. Fox News has been losing to CNN in the key 25- to 54-year-old demographic. Since the election, when many of President Trump’s supporters were furious with Fox’s acknowledgement of Joe Biden’s victory, a far-right show on Newsmax has also been peeling away some of Fox’s viewers in the 7 p.m. hour.

MacCallum will move to the 3 p.m. hour next Monday, Fox said.

The move will surely be seen as a demotion, since 7 p.m. is a much more prominent time slot than the afternoon.

Fox’s addition of even more right-wing opinion programming in the evening is part of a larger shakeup of the cable network’s schedule.

“As part of the changes, many of Fox News Channel’s best known daytime anchors will find themselves leading new time slots and shows,” Variety reported Monday morning. “Harris Faulkner, who hosts two hours from noon to 2 p.m., will now anchor the 11 a.m. slot as well as her noon program, ‘Outnumbered.’ Bill Hemmer, who took over a 3 p.m. slot previously anchored by Shepard Smith, will return to co-anchoring the network’s first two hours of news programming at 9 a.m. — and will be paired with Dana Perino. John Roberts and Sandra Smith will co-anchor two hours in the early afternoon.”