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The Murdoch boys have made major changes to Fox News Channels’ prime-time schedule and the ratings aren’t good – at all.

We now have the first set of ratings where a possible trend can be seen. The lineup as it stood Monday, May 8th has been in place for a week giving us a decent week-to-week comparison.

For those not familiar, here is the new FNC evening lineup as designed by Lachlan and James Murdoch:

Time Slot Show Name 4p Your World with Neil Cavuto 5p Fox News Specialists 6p Brett Baier 7p The Story with Martha MacCallum 8p Tucker Carlson Tonight 9p The Five 10p Sean Hannity 11p Tucker Carlson Tonight

The most important demographic to advertisers is the 25-54 age group. On May 1st, the first day of the new lineup, here were the numbers for the key group:

Time Slot Show Name Ratings 4p Your World With Neil Cavuto 312 5p Fox News Specialists 336 6p Brett Baier 397 7p The Story with Martha MacCallum 332 8p Tucker Carlson Tonight 491 9p The Five 486 10p Sean Hannity 467 11p Tucker Carlson Tonight 383

Then on May 8th, we see what may be fading sentiment for some shows and certainly for those shows in their new time slots.

Time Slot Show Name Ratings 4p Your World With Neil Cavuto 299 5p Fox News Specialists 279 6p Brett Baier 368 7p The Story with Martha MacCallum 362 8p Tucker Carlson Tonight 455 9p The Five 441 10p Sean Hannity 461 11p Tucker Carlson Tonight 313

Neil Cavuto and Sean Hannity faired the best in the comparison with only minor week-to-week drops. Martha MacCallum and the Five took more serious hits and the brand new “Fox News Specialists” got slaughtered.

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MacCallum’s show will likely regain the share of viewers it had when it focused on Trump’s first 100 days. Her format is good for the 7 pm hour and she’s a an engaging host.

Moving “The Five” to 9 o’clock was a terrible decision. It’s not a good lead in for Hannity and won’t pull the same audience from Carlson’s more combative show. 5 pm was the perfect slot for that show and moving it may slate it for the scrap heap.

And now “Fox News Specialists”… It’s a mess. Today’s episode featured the architect of Obamacare and the author of “Clinton Cash” trying to score political points against each other while Kat Tempf played referee. I turned it off.

Bill O’Reilly was the anchor of the Fox News prime-time lineup and after being forced out by Rupert Murdoch’s sons, Fox is losing viewers in a key demographic. Guess who’s picking them up? It’s MSNBC. Here are their week-to-week numbers in the 25-54 demo:

Time Slot Show Host May 1 Rating May 8 Rating 4p Live 125 268 5p MTP Daily 177 322 6p Greta 147 252 7p Mathews 265 344 8p Hayes 288 416 9p Maddow 484 585 10p O'Donnell 382 460 11p Williams 288 322

That’s a huge jump for every single timeslot. Granted, more ideologically conservative viewers aren’t going to go from Fox News to MSNBC, but the more important and malleable middle might. O’Reilly was perfect as the keystone. Not too forceful, not too easy. His knowledge left little room for opposition guests to maneuver and the friendlies always had their say, but not without a check.

When we compare May 8 ratings from both networks, it’s apparent that the Murdoch children have screwed the pooch, but it may be too late for daddy to administer a spanking.

Time Slot Competing Shows May 8 MSNBC Rating May 8 FNC Rating 4p Live v. Cavuto 268 299 5p MTP Daily v. Specialists 322 279 6p Greta v. Baier 252 368 7p Mathews v. MacCallum 344 362 8p Hayes v. Carlson 416 455 9p Maddow v. The Five 585 441 10p O'Donnell v. Hannitry 460 461 11p Williams v. Carlson repeat 322 313

MSNBC is now closing fast on the 4p timeslot and has grabbed the lead in the 5p, 6p times. Martha is barely holding on in the 7p timeslot, but she’ll likely hold on there. 8 pm is on the verge of being lost to the crazy Mika network while 9 pm is all Maddow’s. Late night news .. is MSNBC’s for the taking.

Rupert’s kids may have brought about the death of a once great news network. But only time will tell.

We mustn’t forget that Fox (NASDAQ: FOX) is a publicly held company and it won’t be long until shareholders demand blood if this trend continues.

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