21st Century Fox is looking to revamp Fox News’s digital news operation, and part of the solution could come from sister company News Corp .

Discussions are under way for Noah Kotch, the editor of News Corp’s right-leaning news site Heat Street, to take the reins of FoxNews.com, people familiar with the matter say.

The interest in Mr. Kotch comes after months of stop-and-go talks in which Fox explored acquiring Heat Street, the people say. Such a deal now appears unlikely.

Heat Street went live in April 2016, with the aim of being “politically incorrect” to draw in younger libertarian and center-right readers. It has focused heavily on stories critical of social justice and freedom of speech issues on U.S. college campuses and beyond.

It was led by Louise Mensch, a former Conservative Party MP in the U.K, and Mr. Kotch, a former “Today Show” producer on NBC who helped launch the site Vocativ, a site built around the premise of using data-mining technology to generate story ideas. Ms. Mensch departed earlier this year.