Fox News Suddenly Cancels ‘Lou Dobbs Tonight,’ Fox Business’ Highest Rated Show

Fox News has canceled “Lou Dobbs Tonight,” with Friday night being host Lou Dobbs’ final broadcast, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Lou Dobbs, who was the highest-rated host on the Fox Business Network, “remains under contract at Fox News but he will in all likelihood not appear on the company’s networks again.”

His show, “Lou Dobbs Tonight” aired daily at 5 p.m. ET, and re-aired at 7 p.m. on Fox Business, which became the top-rated “news program on business television,” featuring a “breakdown of the day’s top stories and how they impact the economy,” according to the Fox Business website.

“Prior to joining FBN, Dobbs served as a chief economic correspondent, managing editor and executive vice president for CNN, hosting various programs, including ‘Moneyline,’ which premiered in 1980 and was later renamed Lou Dobbs Tonight,” his profile shows.

Dobbs, 75, joined Fox Business Network in November of 2010. According to the Los Angeles Times, “Lou Dobbs Tonight” will “be called ‘Fox Business Tonight,’ with rotating substitute hosts Jackie DeAngelis and David Asman,” starting next week.

This announcement comes one day after Smartmatic — a voting software company — filed a $2.7 billion defamation suit against Fox News and three of its hosts, one of whom was Lou Dobbs. According to the Los Angeles Times report, however, “people familiar with discussions say the decision to end Dobbs’ program was under consideration before the legal issues with Smartmatic arose.”

“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,” a Fox News representative said. “This is part of those planned changes. A new 5 p.m. program will be announced in the near future.”

This news comes after a series of other announcements regarding Fox News and Fox Business Network programming, including a number of program and host changes, as well as a shake-up of the Fox News daytime lineup. This also comes during a turbulent time for the conservative network, as Fox News’ ratings fell below that of CNN and MSNBC for the first time since 2000.

Lou Dobbs “graduated from Harvard University with a degree in economics,” and “worked in government and banking prior to working in journalism.” He was named “TV’s Premier Business News Anchorman” by The Wall Street Journal, and was also awarded a Lifetime Achievement Emmy Award.

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