Fox News Media has canceled Lou Dobbs Tonight, Fox Business Network’s highest-rated program.
“As we said in October, Fox News Media regularly considers programming changes and plans have been in place to launch new formats as appropriate post-election, including on Fox Business – this is part of those planned changes,” a spokesperson for Fox News said in a statement. “A new 5PM program will be announced in the near future.”
In the meantime, the 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. hours will be occupied by a show called Fox Business Tonight, which will initially be hosted by Jackie DeAngelis on Monday and Tuesday and David Asman for the remainder of next week.
Dobbs joined FBN 10 years ago and has been a staple on the channel ever since.
However, Dobbs has indulged in commentary that has crossed into conspiracy theories, particularly since Donald Trump was elected president in 2016. Last December, Dobbs ran a segment produced by Fox that debunked some of his own segments about alleged fraud in the 2020 election, apparently due to legal concerns.
This week one company that has been the subject of some of Dobbs’ commentary, Smartmatic, filed a $2.7 billion lawsuit against Fox Corp., naming Dobbs as well.
In a separate statement, a Fox spokesperson said “Fox News Media is committed to providing the full context of every story with in-depth reporting and clear opinion. We are proud of our 2020 election coverage and will vigorously defend against this meritless lawsuit in court.”
Fox Business recently hired CNBC anchor turned Trump White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow, who will be getting his own program on the channel.
Dobbs, who had been one of CNN’s original anchors, departed the channel in 2009 as his commentary around immigration became increasingly hard-line. He would join FBN two years later.
Updated 6:10 p.m. with statement regarding the Smartmatic lawsuit.
