Fox News Channel veteran anchor Megyn Kelly will join NBC News, NBCUniversal News Group chairman Andrew Lack announced Tuesday.
Kelly, whose The Kelly File program is one of Fox News’ highest rated primetime series, will anchor a one-hour daytime news program that will launch in the coming months, but no date has been given for her debut.
Kelly will also anchor a Sunday evening news magazine show and will become “an important contributor” to NBC breaking news coverage as well as the network’s political and special events coverage, according to Lack.
“Megyn is an exceptional journalist and news anchor, who has had an extraordinary career” Lack said in a statement. “She’s demonstrated tremendous skill and poise, and we’re lucky to have her.”
Kelly in a statement on her Facebook page said: "Over a dozen years ago I started at Fox News in a job that would change my life. Now, I have decided to end my time at FNC, incredibly enriched for the experiences I've had. I have agreed to join NBC News, where I will be launching a new daytime show Monday through Friday, along with a Sunday evening news magazine program. I will also participate in NBC's breaking news coverage and its political and special events coverage. While I will greatly miss my colleagues at Fox, I am delighted to be joining the NBC News family and taking on a new challenge. I remain deeply grateful to Fox News, to Rupert, Lachlan and James Murdoch, and especially to all of the FNC viewers, who have taught me so much about what really matters. More to come soon."
Kelly has anchored The Kelly File since 2013 and has developed the show into the number two highest-rated show on Fox News behind The O’Reilly Factor. But with her contract with Fox ending in 2017 – and with the fallout over the resignation last July of Fox News chairman and CEO Roger Ailes – there had been media speculation on whether Kelly would remain at Fox News.
Fox News finished 2016 as the most watched cable network in primetime, bolstered by The O’Reilly Factor, The Kelly File and the network’s coverage of the 2016 Presidential campaign.
