Report Murdoch To Rally Fox News Troops

Rupert Murdoch will rally the Fox News troops on Wednesday, unveiling plans to renovate its second-floor newsroom in Manhattan, according to Deadline.

All Fox employees are invited to join the exec chairman in Studio F for a presentation to unveil plans for the first major Floor 2 overhaul in two decades, according to the invite, a copy of which was obtained by Deadline. Staffers will get the pep talk in two shifts, to accommodate the crowd.

The event is intended as a venue in which Murdoch will talk about moving the company forward, and its future.

After having been stung by a series of sexual harassment and racial discrimination lawsuits that have seen top executives pink-slipped and ratings magnet Bill O’Reilly put out to pasture, and with MSNBC ratings surging in the wake of Donald Trump White House internecine chaos, the Fox News crew could use the boost.

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Fox News eked out a first-place total-viewer finish in primetime this past Monday, but only 2,000 viewers ahead of MSNBC (2.53M vs. 2.528M). But, FNC finished third in primetime in the demo, 25-54, with 499K viewers, well behind CNN’s 608K and MSNBC’s winning 662K viewers. Last week, FNC topped all of cable in primetime and total day in total viewers.

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On Broadcast TV:

The season finale of “The Big Bang Theory” scored another win among adults 18-49 for the week of May 8. The CBS show drew a 2.7 rating in the demographic, up a little from recent weeks and good enough to finish at No. 1.

“Empire” (2.2, +0.3 from the previous week) was the only other show above 2.0 in the 18-49 demo, with the Monday “Voice” falling just short at 1.9.

“NCIS” finished first in viewers with 13.39 million, a little ahead of the 12.99 million for “The Big Bang Theory.” NBC (1.1) led the network 18-49 rankings, and CBS (7.03 million) topped the viewer tally.

“The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” last week racked up its 15th consecutive ratings win over its NBC rival, statistics released Tuesday revealed.

The average Colbert viewership during the week ended May 12 was 3.07 million — compared with 2.68 million for “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.”

The CBS late-night winning streak is the longest in more than seven years — since the week ended Jan. 15, 2010.

Fallon still won the key demographic of viewers ages 18 to 49 — coveted by advertisers — with a 27 percent edge over Colbert, Nielsen data showed.