Fox News promotes Scott to first female CEO
Veteran also will lead Fox Business Network
21st Century Fox has named its first woman CEO, Suzanne Scott, to oversee the Fox News Channel and Fox Business Network.
Scott, who has been with Fox News since its inception in October 1996, had been serving as president of programming for both networks. She will report to company founder Rupert Murdoch and Lachlan Murdoch, both executive chairmen of 21st Century Fox.
“Suzanne has been instrumental in the success of FOX News and she has now made history as its first female CEO,” Lachlan Murdoch said in a statement. “Her vision and innovation have helped create some of the most popular and lucrative primetime programs on cable.”
This week, Lachlan Murdoch was named co-chairman, along with Rupert Murdoch, of the new Fox company expected to emerge from a sale of many Fox assets to the Walt Disney Co. “As we embark on the era of the proposed New Fox, I am confident that Suzanne’s leadership will ensure the dominance of both Fox News & FBN for years to come,” he said.
At Fox News, Scott oversaw the revamping of the channel’s prime-time lineup — in the wake of the dismissal of Bill O’Reilly in April 2017 under allegations of sexual harassment — with Tucker Carlson Tonight (8 p.m. ET), moving Hannity to 9 p.m., and adding The Ingraham Angle at 10 p.m.
Scott, 52, was promoted in May
2017 after the resignation of network co-president Bill Shine, who had been mentioned in lawsuits filed against Fox News for allowing a workplace culture in which sexual harassment and racial discrimination developed.
Last fall, Scott expanded the network’s schedule with 20 hours of live programming, including more women anchors and hosts on shows she cocreated, such as Outnumbered Overtimew/Harris Faulkner, The Story with Martha MacCallum and The Daily Briefing w/ Dana Perino.
As for new Fox, 21st Century Fox agreed to sell many of its prized assets — including the Fox movie and TV studios, one-third stake in Hulu and its 22 regional sports networks — to Disney for $52.4 billion last December. But that deal could face another hurdle with Comcast reportedly planning a
$60 billion offer to outbid Disney.