FNC Looks To Extend CableTV News Domination

The Fox News Deck

“Fox News will be going through a dramatic transformation as it figures itself out without its creator,” James Shepard, chair of the communications department at California State University, Fullerton told The Hill.

“In the short term, I suspect we will see minimal turnover and experimentation,” he said. "But in the long term, we may see softening of the most radical elements of programming and perhaps see more ‘fair and balanced’ news.”

Sky News in Britain, which is also operated by the Murdochs, doesn’t have the edge of Fox News in the United States. If there is a change, Shepard says it will be a sign that “the Murdoch sons want to put their stamp on the company by importing practices from Sky News in Britain.”

Shepard’s view isn’t necessarily a majority opinion.

The cable news network makes its parent company billions, and some think that alone means there will be no change.

Research firm SNL Kagan estimates Fox News generated $2.3 billion in ad sales alone last year. Pivotal Research analyst Brian Wieser says the operating profit for Fox News was $1.6 billion in fiscal 2015. That's nearly 25 percent of 21st Century Fox's overall operating profit.

“At this point Fox News is such a fine-tuned and well-oiled machine, I think even Mickey Mouse could step in and keep it running," said Doug Spero, associate professor of communication at Meredith College and TV veteran with ABC, CBS and NBC on his resume.

“They attract the same demos year after year and they’ve dominated with their prime-time lineup. Bill O’Reilly has been No. 1 for years,” he said.

Fox has easily been No. 1 in cable news for the past 15 years.  The network even recently finished at the top of all cable channels, including ESPN.

At the same time, many of Fox’s stars are aging, and it is not clear younger stars such as Megyn Kelly will stay with the network.