According to insiders, Bill O’Reilly is working on returning to television and there’s one guy that he wants by his side — Fox News’ Sean Hannity.
New York Magazine‘s Gabriel Sherman spoke to MSNBC Sunday, revealing that both O’Reilly and Hannity are “in talks” with Sinclair Broadcast Group to relocate their shows to a new network.
“[W]e have been talking about Sean Hannity this morning. My sources in and around Fox say that [he] and Bill O’Reilly are potentially in talk to take their shows to Sinclair,” Sherman said on MSNBC’s “AM Joy.”
Sherman, along with The Horn News, was one of the first reporters to break the story of O’Reilly’s firing in April, proof that his sources at Fox are well connected.
“Bill O’Reilly wanted to get back into the game,” he continued, “So, Sinclair really wants to build the future of a conservative media empire, and poaching Fox’s biggest names would help them do that.”
“This again is the groundwork for what I think will be the next conservative media platform in the post- Roger Ailes era.”
He relaying the comments on Twitter, adding Newsmax to the potential platform for O’Reilly’s proposed show:
As I reported this morning on @amjoyshow, Bill O'Reilly has talked Hannity about teaming up to go to Sinclair Broadcasting, sources say.
— Gabriel Sherman (@gabrielsherman) July 23, 2017
Impt to note O'Reilly also considering @newsmax TV as a possibly landing pad
— Gabriel Sherman (@gabrielsherman) July 23, 2017
While he recognizes the possibility of the team up, he also brings light to skepticism based on the relationship between Hannity and O’Reilly in the past:
I'm skeptical though of an O'Reilly-Hannity alliance because the two had a lot of bad blood from their time at Fox News
— Gabriel Sherman (@gabrielsherman) July 23, 2017
Hannity is still employed at Fox News, hosting “Hannity” weeknights at 10 p.m. It’s unclear as to whether he is entertaining the idea of leaving the network to join O’Reilly.
“Hannity” is currently one of Fox News’ highest rated shows currently.
O’Reilly’s show “The O’Reilly Factor” was also one of Fox’s hits when it was still on air, with it’s replacement “Tucker Carlson Tonight” still failing to live up to it’s time-slot predecessor.
There’s little doubt that the pulled forces of both these conservative power-houses would be a huge hit, destroying competing media outlets like CNN and MSNBC.
— The Horn News editorial team