Anthony Crupi at MediaWeek covers the story and manages to add a start time to Hemmer’s FOX employment…

Hemmer will report to work sometime in late August, serving as a weekday daytime anchor/correspondent.

Headline News continues to challenge CNN aggressively in the Demo numbers race. For the 2nd weekday in a row Headline beat CNN in the Prime Time Demo and came within a whisker of doing the same in the Total Day demo. Zahn rebounded from Friday but it wasn’t enough to prevent Grace from beating her again. Countdown rebounded strong from Friday’s dismal showing. O’Reilly had a big night at 2.8 million.
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The official press release for Bill Hemmer joining FOX News as a weekday anchor and correspondent is out on Business Wire… (via TVNewser)

In making the announcement, Ailes said, “Bill is a journalist of great integrity, and his strong reporting and anchoring skills will prove beneficial to the entire FOX News team.”

Hemmer added, “I am thrilled to be joining FOX News Channel, and I welcome the opportunity to be a part of the nation’s leading cable news network.”

On FOX, Brit Hume will anchor coverage beginning at 9 PM followed by a panel discussion for a half hour. Hannity & Colmes will follow for half an hour and then a full hour of On The Record. On The FOX broadcast network, Shepard Smith will anchor the coverage.

UPDATE: MSNBC will have Brian Williams anchor the coverage of the announcement. ICN had earlier said that Mathews would do it but ICN forgot that Mathews was out last week and is out again this week (so far at least…Dan Abrams will be doing Hardball according to today’s Daily Briefing).

CNN didn’t announce who is anchoring the coverage but they have noted on their schedule that Larry King will be doing post announcement reaction.

TVNewser has an in depth article on Wolf Blitzer’s The Situation Room from yesterday’s press blitz….

The Situation Room is not going to be your father’s newscast. That’s what Wolf Blitzer told TV writers at the TCA Press Tour on Sunday. He explained how the format will be “looser” and “less formalistic” than a typical news show. “We’re going to take you behind the scenes and let viewers see what we’re getting when we’re getting it,” Blitzer said

But many of the reporters at the press tour were skeptical. “Isn’t that what you’re supposed to be doing now?,” one TV writer asked. “I mean, aren’t you supposed to be gathering news now and as soon as you have the story, putting it on the air? I thought that was the whole point behind 24-hour news.”

ICN has learned that Fox News has signed Bill Hemmer . . . the announcement is expected this afternoon

Phyllis Furman in the New York Daily News reports that CNN is dropping “Dolans Unscripted” and “The Turnaround” from their weekend programming lineup…

In a big retreat from business news, CNN shuttered sister financial channel CNNfn last year. It will replace its weekend biz shows with general news programs, which will be hosted by CNN weekend anchors Betty Nguyen, Tony Harris and Fredericka Whitfield.

…

CNN has seen its ratings drop by double digits on Saturday mornings with the launch of its personal finance block. Fox News Channel’s business shows are doubling CNN’s ratings on Saturday mornings.

Following up on this…TVSpyers are speculating that the expletive came from Dana Bash.

Pam Lobley of NorthJersey.com takes a swipe at TV Hurricane coverage…

Hurricanes are just the right amount of danger to enjoy. It’s as if the producers, who wouldn’t let their top anchors disappear on a long and gritty assignment, indulge the anchors a little and let them amuse themselves with high winds and flooding possibilities. No matter how bad it gets, it will all blow over in a day or two, literally. Then they can get back to their hairdryers and teleprompters and go about the rest of the news business. They’ve had their thrill vacation.