Firebrand FOX News Channel host Glenn Beck will leave his daily show later this year, though the presenter will continue to work with the cable network to develop programming, FOX News said in a statement Wednesday.
Beck’s 5:00pm show drew 1.9 million viewers in the first quarter of 2011, down 30 percent from the previous year. In the key 25-54 age demographic, Beck’s show had 462,000 viewers, down 37 percent from a year earlier.
Beck and FOX News will “work together to develop and produce a variety of television projects for air on the Fox News Channel as well as content for other platforms including Fox News’ digital properties,” the statement said.
“Glenn intends to transition off of his daily program, the third highest rated in all of cable news, later this year,” FOX said.
There was no immediate talk of a replacement host for the 5pm timeslot.
The announcement comes about two weeks after reports indicated Beck was contemplating starting his own cable channel.
According to The New York Times, Beck has been considering a partial or wholesale takeover of a cable channel or an expansion of his subscription video service on the internet. A FOX News spokeswoman declined to discuss whether the network would renew Beck’s contract, telling the Times, “it’s not up until December.”
FOX News Channel is owned by News Corp., which also owns NewsCore.