Megyn Kelly Renews Contract With Fox News, Speculation About Change To Prime Time Position

Megyn Kelly has renewed her contract as a Fox News Anchor and there has been speculation that she may see a prime time position in the near future.

Greta Van Susteren also renewed her contract this week and her husband, John Coale, told the New York Times that his wife may be moving out of the 10 p.m. time slot that she has held since 2002, possibly opening up the hour for Kelly, who is currently an afternoon anchor and has long been mentioned as a candidate for a prime time position.

Coale told the Times that, although he was unaware of any impending schedule changes, she would happily move to an earlier hour, perhaps sometime later on in the year.  Coale, who learned that he had cancer in December said that  he would "like to spend some quality time with [his] wife, at least before 11 p.m.," and he emphasized that he was speaking for himself rather than his wife, who declined to comment.

According to the Times, Van Susteren's 10 p.m. program, 'On the Record,' has been a sore spot on the channel's schedule since it only attracted 35,000 more viewers between the ages of 25 and 54 than her competitor, Lawrence O'Donnell on MSNBC.  However, Van Susteren said on her blog as recently as last month that the show "has been No. 1 for 11 plus years" among total viewers, a winning streak with very few parallels in the news industry.

Reports have surfaced earlier this year that Kelly took meeting with some other networks, including CNN and ABC, to discuss potential job opportunities, according to the Huffington Post.  She has a lot of big opportunities lately with Fox, co-hosting much of the 2012 presidential coverage alongside Bret Baier, serving as one of the moderators during the Republican primary debate hosted by Fox and navigating the infamous moment during the presidential election in which Karl Rove disputed the network's announcement that Obama beat Romney.

"We will neither confirm nor deny any contract discussions," said a  Fox spokeswoman, according to the New York Times.  However, several other people with knowledge of the situation said that Ms. Kelly had renewed her contract.  She was congratulated via twitter on Tuesday by some of her fans.  People had to speak anonymously because talks about contracts are usually done in secret.

"Nothing's decided," said one of the people with knowledge of the situation cautioned the Times.  And another person noted that no change was imminent because Kelly is currently pregnant with her third child.  Her baby is predicted to be born this summer, Kelly said in February.

A prime time change would be huge for Fox News, which has had a incredibly consistent lineup of hosts and shows, unlike many competitors, such as MSNBC or CNN, the New York Times reports.  The networks biggest stars, Bill O'Reilly, the host of 8 p.m., and Sean Hannity, who hosts 9 p.m., remain under contract for several more years.