Sean Hannity kicked off his 9 pm debut tonight by saying, “Tonight begins a new chapter in the cable news wars.” Cable news junkies might remember that Hannity actually was in the 9 pm slot. Fox news hannity time slot. When critics pointed out that his reckless style would never get him far against the more refined styles of the better teams in the world, especially South Korea, he adopted his disordered play as a badge of honor. 'Hannity,' with Sean Hannity, will remain in its 10 p.m. ET time slot, and 'Special Report with Bret Baier' will air from 5 p.m. Next week until a new show hosted by Eric Bolling takes.
Tucker to author: Why's Trump's wall a symbol of hate?
Tucker takes on undocumented immigrant who became a VP at Goldman Sachs and an American citizen and says president's deportation force is scarier than his proposed border wall, which is a 'symbol of hate' #Tucker
Fox News Hannity Time Slot
Tucker Carlson, host of 'Tucker Carlson Tonight,' will lead an all-new prime time lineup on Fox News, beginning Monday.
Carlson, whose show airs live from Washington, features lively debates and bills itself as the 'sworn enemy of lying, pomposity, smugness and groupthink, ' will move to the key 8 p.m. ET hour, anchoring a powerful lineup on America's most-watched cable news channel.
'Hannity,' with Sean Hannity, will remain in its 10 p.m. ET time slot, and 'Special Report with Bret Baier' will air from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. next week until a new show hosted by Eric Bolling takes over the 5 p.m. slot beginning April 28.
Other changes include popular debate show 'The Five' moving into the 9 p.m. timeslot and Martha MacCallum's 7 p.m. ET show, 'The First 100 Days,' going permanent on April 28 as 'The Story with Martha MacCallum.'
Fox Fires Hannity
Hope you'll join me every night at 7pm ET for #TheStory with Martha MacCallum. A new adventure - dig into The Story of our times with me!
— martha maccallum (@marthamaccallum) April 20, 2017New programming and debut dates are as follows, with all times Eastern:
? 5 p.m. -- A one-hour program hosted by Eric Bolling will debut on Monday, May 1. For the week of April 24-28, 'Special Report with Bret Baier' will fill the 5-7 p.m. timeslot.
? 7 p.m. -- 'The Story with Martha MacCallum' airs live, debuting on Monday, May 1. MacCallum will continue anchoring 'The First 100 Days' through April 28
? 8 p.m. – 'Tucker Carlson Tonight'
? 9 p.m. -- 'The Five' airs live with co-hosts Kimberly Guilfoyle, Dana Perino, Bob Beckel, Greg Gutfeld, Jesse Watters and Juan Williams
? 10 p.m. – 'Hannity'remains in its current timeslot, hosted by Sean Hannity
Fox News host Sean Hannity is being targeted with an advertiser boycott, the third this year, a relief to critics riled by the conservative pundit's comments. But do they hurt him with Fox and its viewers?
His show Hannity, which airs at 9 p.m. weeknights on the Fox News Channel, is currently the top cable news show, based on Nielsen data for the month of October.
Viewership of the show took a hit earlier this year during a period in which he was targeted by ad boycotts — and his show was temporarily moved an hour later from its traditional 9 p.m. ET time slot because of the departure of Bill O’Reilly. Back at the old hour, it's bounced back.
Hannity drew an average of 2.5 million during the April-September months, down from his 2.87 million in the year's first three months of the year. While Hannity was in the later time slot, MSNBC's The Rachel Maddow Show became the most watched cable news show. In the July-September period, Rachel Maddow attracted 2.7 million to Hannity's 2.5 million.
Since returning to his 9 p.m. slot, ET slot, the show has drawn an average of 3.2 million total viewers, according to Nielsen.
Those earlier boycotts, propelled by liberal media activist group Media Matters for America, involved his coverage of the Charlottesville white supremacists' rally in August and, in May, his continued coverage of the murder of Seth Rich, who was shot to death in July 2016 in what Washington D.C. police have called a botched robbery but which conspiracy theories have tied to the breach of the Democratic National Committee's emails last year.
This most recent initiative, also led by Media Matters, targets the Fox News host's comments that Senate candidate Roy Moore — accused of sexual misconduct with teen girls — should be given the benefit of the doubt.
'I said I support not rushing to judgment. I support the presumption of innocence,' Hannity told viewers.
Fox News Hannity Time
That runs counter to Republican leadership in regards to Moore. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he believed Moore's accusers, while the National Republican Senatorial Campaign chairman Sen. Cory Gardner has suggested the Senate consider expelling Moore if he is elected. Meanwhile, former White House strategist Steve Bannon has maintained his support for Moore, saying the mainstream media has orchestrated the attack.
After Media Matters and its president Angelo Carusone tweeted to several advertisers about Hannity's stance on Moore last weekend, several companies over the weekend responded on Twitter they had no advertisements running during Hannity broadcasts. Keurig's support led to many Hannity supporters posting videos of themselves destroying their coffee machines.
Later, Keurig CEO Bob Gamgort said in a memo to employees, obtained by The Washington Post, that the Waterbury, Vermont company did not mean to take sides.
Bashing Hannity only serves to rally conservatives to his side, says Andrew Tyndall, TV news analyst of The Tyndall Report, a research firm.
'The publicity generated by the boycott campaign only underlines Hannity's status as the primary source of, and cheerleader for, the strain of radical right-wing populism that Roy Moore belongs to,' he said. 'It makes watching Hannity more of a symbol of tribal and ideological loyalty than ever.'
Fox did not respond to request for comment on the boycott. A previous advertiser boycott against another popular Fox News host, Bill O'Reilly, coincided with his eventual ouster at the network. But O'Reilly also faced multiple accusations of sexual harassment at the time.
Boycotts of Hannity are unlikely anyway to have much affect, says Tyndall. And should an advertiser leave, he said, 'the pool of potential advertisers is large, with ready replacements for any that drop out.'
More: Keurig, Sean Hannity, Roy Moore: scalded by an ad backlash
Follow USA TODAY reporter Mike Snider on Twitter: @MikeSnider.