Thinking about it, I think Fox is going to pay a heavy price for dumping O'Reilly the way they did. He has lots of loyal followers - which are/were Fox's customers - which they just pissed off big time. The Murdoch boys are in for a rude awakening. We'll see...
I agree. Whatever happened with Bill, Fox could have handled it gracefully, but chose not to. Dumping him while he was on vacation without giving him the opportunity to sign off, was brutal. That's more than just firing him. That is a body slam. That is personal.
I don't think they yet realize what they have done. Whether I watched The Factor or not, I knew it was on. That is to say that it was a mental staple and a stability in my life, even if I wasn't watching. To have something like that yanked out of your life after decades, overnight, with no closure, will take some adjustment.
Fox did not just fire O'Reilly, they fired part of their audience with him. And the way they did it was a slap in the face to millions of loyal viewers. It was as if Fox News said, 'We don't give a single damn about you or what you think. We will do whatever we want anytime we want to and you can go to hell. Take your loyalty and stuff it.'
I know that Fox News thinks that they are the king of the hill and that they can do anything they want to with impunity, but once they begin insulting and disrespecting their viewers, they will soon learn how fragile their lead, and their ad revenue, always has been.