Glenn Beck to End Daily Fox News Show

by Jordan Yerman | April 6, 2011 at 09:32 am

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Glenn Beck to End Daily Show on Fox News

Right-wing commentator Glenn Beck is walking away from his daily program on Fox News (i.e. it's getting canceled). While no end date was announced for Glenn Beck's show, his contract with Fox ends in December 2011.

Though he is easily one of the most popular television personalities in America, Glenn Beck had been hemmohaging viewers. From a high of around 3 million daily viewers, Beck dipped to roughly 2 million by the end of 2010. Glenn Beck's conspiracy theories and bizarre anti-progressive rhetoric have a lurid appeal, but that sort of thing does not keep audiences engaged forever: Nielsen numbers bear that out.

Also, advertisers have been leaving Glenn Beck's show in droves. No matter how many people watch your show, and no matter how many people talk about it over the water cooler, your show will not last if the network can't sell ad space at a high enough profit. Such is the nature of network TV.

Is Fox News Breaking Up with Glenn Beck?

This does not mean that Fox News and Glenn Beck are going to divorce. No doubt both parties still see a future in their partnership, and it's just a matter of finding something with a bit more staying power, be it on TV, the web, or both. Indeed, Joel Cheatwood, a senor Fox News exec, is joining Glenn Beck's company, Mercury Radio Arts.

Note that Fox News did not create Glenn Beck- he had a lengthy radio career before joining CNN Headline News in 2006, and, though it seems like he's been there forever, only joined Fox News in 2009. Fox News needs Beck more than Beck needs Fox News, at least in terms of earning money.

That said, the Glenn Beck Show is an albatross around the neck of a news network that wants to be treated as legit: Beck's program is basically everything that Fox News' critics accuse the network of: inflammatory, distorting, and shrill- entertainment and not real news. For example, Canada's CRTC does not allow such programming to even market itself as news.

Fox News and Mercury Radio Arts need to find a way to keep those two million viewers (and grow that audience base) while still rebuilding Fox News' reputation.

In the statement on Wednesday, Mr. Beck said he would be starting a “new phase” of a partnership with Roger Ailes, the chairman of Fox News. “I truly believe that America owes a lot to Roger Ailes and Fox News,” he said.

Mr. Ailes said in the statement, “Glenn Beck is a powerful communicator, a creative entrepreneur and a true success by anybody’s standards. I look forward to continuing to work with him.”