April 19, 2012, 1:28 pm
By BRIAN STELTER
Whether a Democrat or a Republican is inaugurated president next year, the conservative commentators Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity will still be in their respective studios, holding forth for the Fox News Channel.
The two men, whose contracts are up after the presidential election this year, are on the verge of renewing their contracts through the 2016 election season, according to people with knowledge of the negotiations. The people insisted on anonymity because the negotiations were confidential.
The renewals would cement in place the two critical pieces of Fox’s programming lineup: the point-of-view talk shows “The O’Reilly Factor” at 8 p.m. and “Hannity” at 9 p.m. As the two most popular programs on the channel, “The O’Reilly Factor” and “Hannity” help to make Fox News a profit center for the News Corporation, the media company controlled by Rupert Murdoch. Fox News is expected to make $1 billion in profit this year.
Mr. O’Reilly and Mr. Hannity’s willingness to stay at Fox, and Fox’s willingness to have them stay, came as no surprise to staff members at the channel or at its cable news rivals, some of whom cited the adage, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” when talking about Fox’s prime-time schedule. ... ... m ...
The “twin pillars of the operation,” Mr. O’Reilly and Mr. Hannity are “proven personalities, proven moneymakers,” said Kerwin Swint, a professor at Kennesaw State University in Georgia, who has written a book about Roger Ailes, the Fox News chairman.
He surmised of Mr. Ailes, “he’s going to try to lock them up as long as he can.”
