For O’Reilly, a smaller soapbox
Return to radio possible, but he’d probably prefer to remain in television
Now that Bill O’Reilly is out at Fox News, talk has begun about where the cable TV heavyweight and best-selling author might land for his inevitable comeback.
Wherever that turns out to be, the conservative host will have a less-amplified megaphone. At Fox News, O’Reilly hosted the toprated news show on the mostwatched cable news channel.
But the tarnish from multiple accusations of sexual harassment likely will cause major broadcast and cable networks to shy away.
“He is radioactive in terms of any other news network,” said Mark Feldstein, a broadcast journalism professor at the University of Maryland and a former journalist at NBC. “He is certainly not going to go to any of the big three or CNN or MSNBC.”
O’Reilly had planned to return to The O’Reilly Factor next week after a vacation taken amid an exodus of advertisers over reports of harassment allegations made against him. But parent 21st Century Fox dropped the conservative TV host Wednesday as new accusations arose.
Having recently signed a new multiyear contract worth more than $20 million annually, O’Reilly, 67, likely expected to work for a few more years. He called the development “tremendously disheartening ” and described the allegations as “completely unfounded” in a statement released Wednesday.
O’Reilly is expected to be paid one year, or about $20 million to $25 million, of the expected fouryear contract, CNN and The Hollywood Reporter reported Thursday, citing unnamed persons familiar with the situation. A spokesperson for 21st Century Fox declined to comment.
When a non-compete clause — expected to run at least six months — runs out, O’Reilly would be free to take to the air again. If a major broadcast or cable channel is out of the question, O’Reilly could get to work sooner, and he can survey many other media outlets as a route for his return, Feldstein said, based on his knowledge of typical broadcast contracts.
O’Reilly’s lawyer and his agent did not return calls seeking comment for this article.
Among the possible new homes: Newsmax Media, a conservative media company with a TV network (on cable and online), website, magazine and newsletter; One America News Network (OANN), a conservative TV network on DirecTV and several cable systems; and Sinclair Broadcast Group, the Baltimorebased TV operator with 173 stations and other properties such as the Tennis Channel.
Sinclair has been known for producing conservative programming that is distributed to its TV stations.
But Michael Harrison, publisher of Talkers magazine, doesn’t rule out O’Reilly’s return on a competing network. Any would “be interested in finding a place for him in their programming line-ups or at least exploring the possibility,” he said. “But that would only be after lengthy discussions and concessions. O’Reilly is, indeed, damaged. He is not, however, irreparably broken.”
If nothing else, O’Reilly could also return to radio — he hosted The Radio Factor on air from 2002 to 2009 — but he would probably prefer TV, “because his talents are more suited to TV than radio,” Harrison said.
Whatever O’Reilly’s plans, Feldstein said, “I don’t see him going quietly into the night and just retiring.”