CNBC has cancelled “The News with Shepard Smith” to focus on biz news

Shepard Smith (Photo by Steven Ferdman/Getty Images)

CNBC has canceled “The News with Shepard Smith,” its primetime general news show, to refocus on business and market coverage, reports Alex Sherman of CNBC.com.

Sherman writes, “The network announced the news Thursday in an e-mail to CNBC employees. Smith will be leaving the network later this month, according to a person familiar with the matter. CNBC will replace Smith’s primetime show with markets coverage until a new live show focusing on business news launches in 2023.

“‘After spending time with many of you and closely reviewing the various aspects of our business, I believe we must prioritize and focus on our core strengths of business news and personal finance,’ CNBC President KC Sullivan said in an e-mail to CNBC employees. ‘As a result of this strategic alignment to our core business, we will need to shift some of our priorities and resources and make some difficult decisions.’

“Smith’s show will end at an unspecified date later this month. His team includes about 20 people. The company will work over the coming weeks to help employees affected by the cancellation find other potential opportunities across NBC News Group.

“Smith joined CNBC two years ago from Fox News to bolster primetime TV ratings. His show accomplished that, doubling CNBC’s 7 p.m. ET viewership and bringing in the wealthiest audience of any primetime cable news program over the last two years, according to Sullivan. ‘The News with Shepard Smith’ had its largest average audience last month since April.”

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Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.