CNBC pulls the plug on ‘The News With Shepard Smith’
CNBC has announced it will not be renewing its “The News With Shepard Smith” and moving the show to MSNBC.
The move comes as the network’s viewership is in its second year of decline and it’s losing money.
The show, which airs Friday and Sunday nights, has been off the air since January.
“After reviewing our business and the competitive landscape in the cable news market, it was time to make a difficult decision and transition ‘The Shepard Smith Show’ from Saturday to Thursday beginning Monday, May 12… We are sad to see ‘The Shepard Smith show’ go,” said Michael Radutzke, president of MSNBC Entertainment.
The move will not immediately affect the show’s staff. A decision on what will take their place is expected before the end of the summer.
But the long-term effects on the show, which has been consistently among the top-rated shows on television, could not be more pronounced.
“This decision to pull the plug on ‘The Shepard Smith Show’ is yet another indication of the challenges that CNN faces in competing in the most basic way with NBC News and MSNBC,” said CNN President Jeff Zucker. “This is a big blow to The Shepard Smith Show, the CNN brand, and the CNN family. We will continue to work with Shepard and his producers in order to find a new home for the show.”
The move comes as the network continues to lose viewers.
According to Nielsen, “The News With Shepard Smith” is currently ranked 13th among all cable news shows on the night it aired, with 0.87 million viewers. Last week, “Shep” drew 0.90 million viewers.
A source close to the network, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the decision was made because Comcast is “trying to become the cable news leader.”
“Shea,” a former Fox News personality, was hired as a correspondent on MSNBC in late January 2010. He was later named co-host of “Shep’s Morning News With Shepard Smith.”
Shepard Smith, a former Navy SEAL and correspondent for FOX News, became a popular face on MSNBC in 2008.
In 2011, he took on a new role as national security correspondent for MSNBC, hosting “Deadline: White House” for