Fox News personality Jesse Watters has been tapped to anchor a show for the network’s coveted 8 p.m. Eastern time slot previously occupied by the fired Tucker Carlson, the network announced Monday.
Watters, who has been serving as a co-host for Fox’s roundtable TV show “The Five” as well as “Jesse Watters Primetime,” will move his solo show to the new slot on July 17.
The hosting-duties shakeup will impact weekday programming for multiple shows. The popular cable channel’s new lineup will feature Laura Ingraham at 7 p.m., Watters at 8 p.m., Sean Hannity at 9 p.m., Greg Gutfield at 10 p.m. and Trace Gallagher at 11 p.m.
“The unique perspectives of Laura Ingraham, Jesse Watters, Sean Hannity, and Greg Gutfeld will ensure our viewers have access to unrivaled coverage from our best-in-class team for years to come,” Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott said in a statement.
Carlson was abruptly ousted by Fox in April less than a week after the company agreed to pay Dominion Voting Systems nearly $800 million to settle a defamation case just as it was set to go to trial.
Since leaving Fox, Carlson has kicked off a “Tucker on Twitter” series — arguing that Twitter was “the only” major remaining platform that allows free speech as he denounced other news media. Fox reportedly sent Carlson a cease-and-desist letter over the Twitter series.
Carlson, who took over the time slot from popular host Bill O’Reilly after O’Reilly’s firing in 2017, was Fox’s top-rated host when he left the network, averaging 3.25 million viewers in March, his last full month at Fox. That same month, “Hannity” averaged 1.91 million viewers, “The Five” averaged 2.63 million and “Special Report with Bret Baier” averaged 1.81 million, according to reporting by Deadline.
Fox News parent Fox Corp. and News Corp, parent of MarketWatch publisher Dow Jones, share common ownership.
