Sean Hannity Formalizes Deal to Stay With Fox News Channel for at Least 4 Years

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The Fox News Channel has signed Sean Hannity to a multiyear deal that will lock in the host of their No. 2 show at least into 2016, when the cable network celebrates its 20-year anniversary.

Financial terms of the deal, which was announced Thursday but has been expected for a month, weren’t disclosed. Hannity will continue as host of his 9 p.m. nightly show Hannity.

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The Hannity deal comes three weeks after Bill O’Reilly inked a contract that will take his top-rated The O’Reilly Factor into 2016 as well.

Hannity and O’Reilly both started with FNC in 1996, the year it launched. Hannity, a conservative, co-hosted Hannity & Colmes until 2008 when Alan Colmes, a liberal, left the show and became a commentator across the network, showing up far more frequently on O'Reilly Factor than on Hannity.

In making the announcement, FNC noted that Hannity is the second personality after former CNN host Larry King to hold the same primetime slot for the past 15 years.

Hannity averages more than 2.1 million viewers nightly and is the second most popular show in cable news after O'Reilly Factor, which draws 2.9 million a night.

Hannity, said FNC chairman and CEO Roger Ailes, “is a remarkable asset to the network and we are happy that he’ll remain in his current role.”

“In true Roger Ailes form, he saw something in me that no one else did and afforded me the opportunity to achieve incredible success,” said Hannity.

Email: paul.bond@thr.com