WASHINGTON – Bill O'Reilly is gone. So is Megyn Kelly. Greta Van Susteren. Glenn Beck.
Now, Sean Hannity appears to be on the ropes, hanging on for dear life.
The network's prime-time lineup was so strong, it dominated cable news for almost two decades. But with the steady departure of its stars, Fox suddenly fell from the heavens and into third place last week, for the first time in 17 years.
Critics say the network is losing its conservative identity, and that's why it is losing viewers.
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That has spawned talk of starting a new conservative network, but one Fox News mainstay has found a new home at an existing network – a Christian network.
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee has announced he will host a weekly news and talk show this fall on Trinity Broadcasting Network, or TBN.
Huckabee hosted a very popular political commentary program on Fox, averaging 2 million viewers per episode. The show ran weekends from 2008 until 2015, when he decided to run for president.
His new show, like his former show, will be called "Huckabee."
According to a press release, it will combine his "commentary on news-of-the-day and current issues, along with guests from the worlds of politics, entertainment and faith."
The show will be taped in front of a live studio audience in Nashville, Tennessee, and will be similar to his Fox News show format.
Huckabee's previous show began with an opening monologue on the issues of the day. He then took questions from the audience. Huckabee then chatted with one or more guests and had a panel of commentators.
“TBN is the perfect home for this new television offering,” said Huckabee. “I am grateful to (TBN Chairman) Matt Crouch for sharing the vision of a weekend destination on TV where we talk to newsmakers and celebrities in a civil and respectful manner as well as introduce America to some not-so-famous people whose stories remind us that the greatness of our nation is about the people who love God, raise their families, and serve their neighbors.”
He noted the show will make its home in Nashville, "right in the middle of America."
"It’s one of the fastest growing cities in the nation and a totally fun place to be," he said. "And there’s just a wee bit of amazing talent there. Expect some politics and current events, but if you originate in Nashville and don’t feature music, you would be run out of Nashville! We will inform, inspire and entertain.”
Huckabee served as Arkansas governor from 1996-2007. He ran for the Republican nomination for president in 2008 and in 2016.
His daughter, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, is now deputy White House press secretary. In the video below, Mike Huckabee tells a moving story of taking her, as a little girl, to visit Yad Vashem, the Holocaust history museum in Israel.
In February 2015, shortly before he announced he would run for president, Huckabee spoke in an interview with WND about what he would do, if elected.
One thing he certainly would have changed was President Obama’s apparent penchant for siding with Muslims over Christians. WND asked the governor why the then-president seemed to do that habitually.
“It is hard for me to understand what his rationale is,” said Huckabee. “To always defend Islam and give it a sense of cover but to feel no obligation whatsoever to ever defend Christianity, and, in fact, seemingly, to make it his target. Now, he sometimes has to reach back a thousand years to find something truly objectionable about Christianity.”
Huckabee said he was perplexed by attempts by the president’s Justice Department “to shut down the Little Sisters of the Poor, Hobby Lobby, or to go after wedding caterers who don’t agree with his view of same-sex marriage,” especially now that “we now know he was lying about it after 2008, after Axelrod spilled the beans.”
The latter remark was a reference to former top presidential adviser David Axelrod’s admission that Obama lied in his 2008 campaign about opposing same-sex marriage.
Huckabee's new network, TBN, described itself in a press release as "the world's largest and most watched faith-and-family broadcaster, reaching over 175 nations across the earth with inspirational and entertaining programming 24 hours a day in 14 languages and on 30 global networks."
It also called itself "the world's most influential non-profit religious broadcaster."
“We are excited to add ‘Huckabee’ to our lineup at TBN, as the first of many new developments at our network,” said TBN chairman Crouch. “Mike has a decades-long reputation for compassionate statesmanship, solid biblical counsel and solid common sense perspective. His is a welcome voice of wisdom, integrity and faith that America sorely needs right now.”