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Ailes: Fox Morning News Show to Be Syndicated

Jul 24, 2006  •  Post A Comment

The morning news program for Fox-owned stations that debuts in January will be available in syndication, said Roger Ailes, chairman of the Fox Television Stations.

Mr. Ailes made his announcement Monday at the Fox News Network press session at the Television Critics Association summer tour in Pasadena, Calif.

His comments come after statements by other News Corp. executives who said either that the show would not be available to other stations or that a decision had not yet been made on offering the product in syndication.

Developing a national morning news show complements the local stations’ own morning programming, Mr. Ailes said, noting that original shows are needed more now than ever.

“There’s not much in the pipeline of syndicated programming coming forward,” he said. “It is clear the more we can become self-reliant, the better off we can be going forward.”

For his new morning project, Mr. Ailes said he prefers a soft launch with less money going towards promotion in January rather than a more promoted launch in the fall.

“We didn’t hype Fox News coming in, and we’re not hyping this show coming in,” he said. “It’s a style issue more than anything else.”

For now, the Fox-owned MyNetworkTV stations will not have a Fox News component as part of their schedules, Mr. Ailes told reporters after his session had concluded.