Tucker Carlson, the veteran cable television host and conservative writer, will succeed Megyn Kelly in the coveted 9 p.m. slot on Fox News, according to two people with knowledge of the network's plans.
The move comes just weeks after Carlson, a former co-host of CNN's "Crossfire" and founder of the Daily Caller, a right-leaning news and opinion site, took over Fox News' 7 p.m. hour, where he has beaten network rivals in the Nielsen ratings.
Martha MacCallum, co-anchor of Fox News's morning news show "America's Newsroom," is to succeed Carlson at 7 p.m., according to the people briefed on the discussions, who were granted anonymity to describe network plans that were not yet intended to be public.
MacCallum's 7 p.m. hosting duties will initially be for the first 100 days of the administration of President-elect Donald Trump, the people said.
Carlson's selection is a swift conclusion to an anchor sweepstakes that only emerged on Tuesday, when Kelly, the No. 2 anchor in cable news ratings, behind her colleague Bill O'Reilly, announced that she would be leaving Fox for NBC News. Her new role there will include a daytime news show and a Sunday newsmagazine that will compete against CBS's "60 Minutes."
News of Carlson's appointment was first reported by Drudge.
