Scott Pelley is leaving his anchor role with “CBS Evening News,” a position he has filled since 2011, two people familiar with the move said Tuesday. 
 
 Mr. Pelley will continue his duties at “60 Minutes” and devote more time to that role, the people said. 
 
 Mr. Pelley has consistently been in third place in the ratings among the newscasts at 6:30 p.m. Eastern, behind Lester Holt of NBC and David Muir of ABC, who have traded victories this season. Mr. Holt is winning in the all-important 25-to-54-year-old demographic, and Mr. Muir has the lead in total viewers. 
 
 Although anchors at the major broadcast networks have lost some cachet in the last decade as viewers have increasingly migrated to cable news channels, the role is still viewed as a coveted news assignment. That is especially true at CBS, where Walter Cronkite was once a trusted presence each weeknight in American living rooms. 

 Skip in Skip x Embed x Share CLOSE It looks like Megyn Kelly will go up against big dog '60 Minutes,' but it might not be as crazy as it sounds. Buzz60 
 
 Megyn Kelly moved from Fox News to NBC, where her debut will be as anchor of 'Sunday Night With Megyn Kelly,' a summer newsmagazine. (Photo: Brian Doben, NBC) 
 
 
 
 
 
 NBC poached Fox News star Megyn Kelly primarily for a new morning companion for the Today show, locked in a fierce ratings race against Good Morning America and the growing CBS This Morning. 
 
 But before the hour premieres this fall, Kelly will make her first appearance on NBC in a new summer newsmagazine, Sunday Night With Megyn Kelly, due June 4 (7 ET/PT). She'll anchor the show and report some of its three weekly segments, while others will be tackled by NBC News correspondents including Harry Smith, Kate Snow and Cynthia McFadden. 
 
 Kelly promises "a mix of hard-hitting pieces that are somewhat explosive and news-making with more inspirational longer-form profiles and stories," and says the combination represents "a new form of journalism for me." 
 
 She left Fox News (which fought to keep her) in January, and won't elaborate on the discussion in her book Settle for More on the network's late chief Roger Ailes, or the fallout from his ouster — and later Bill O'Reilly's — amid sexual harassment charges. 
 
 Kelly earned a reputation (and high ratings) there as the hard-charging host of The Kelly File: She confronted Karl Rove on election night 2012, when he claimed Barack Obama's re-election was uncertain, and sparred with Donald Trump in a 2015 presidential primary debate, leading him to call her a "lightweight" and remark "there was blood coming out of her wherever." But in May 2016, critics complained Kelly fawned over the candidate in a Fox broadcast-network special, seen as a template for a new role for which she viewed Oprah Winfrey as a model. 
 
 "In some interviews I’ll be hard-hitting," she said last week, "but I’ve been amazed at the number of times I’ve cried already in doing these sit-downs, and that's another form of me that I think people are less familiar with." 
 
 Kelly, 46, is in Russia moderating a Friday discussion with President Vladimir Putin at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, portions of which will air June 4; another segment sends Smith to Kenya to explore a new effort to stop elephant poaching using anti-terrorist techniques. Also in early episodes are Kelly sit-downs with Fox Sports reporter Erin Andrews and J.D. Vance, author of 2016 bestselling memoir Hillbilly Elegy, a chronicle of his white working-class Appalachian upbringing that echoed a core group of Donald Trump supporters. 
 
 Megyn Kelly, left, expects to do more "long-form" journalism at her new home on NBC, like this Fox News interview with Duggar family members in 2015. (Photo: AP) 
 
 Andrews, a former ESPN reporter and the victim of a stalker who secretly videotaped her nude through a hotel peephole, is "an amazing person with an incredible story," Kelly says. "I was amazed at the connection I felt with her by the time that thing was over, and uplifted by it because it’s rare in our jobs … that you feel something powerful" in an interview. And she called her conversation with Vance "an incredible exchange. He’s got his rap down; he knows what he wants to say about the Rust Belt and the working class, but this interview breaks through all that." 
 
 But Kelly says Sunday Night won't be celebrity focused, and David Corvo, senior executive producer of prime-time news, says Kelly's experience as an interviewer will differentiate the hour: "She has a distinctive style and rapport with the audience," he says. The format "was something she wanted; she felt like this was a kind of journalism she had not done in her career," apart from occasional profiles like the one she did of the Duggar family in 2015. 
 
 The newsmagazine, which joins the long-running Dateline NBC, will air for 10 weeks this summer, competing against reruns of 60 Minutes, until the NFL season begins in late August. NBC expects to return it to the schedule in March, after the Winter Olympics, though it "will be a challenge" juggling with the morning show, Corvo says. 
 
 And this fall will bring Kelly's new morning show, due at 9 a.m. ET/PT, that she's planning with her longtime Fox News producer Debra Murphy. Kelly describes it as an "empowering, inspiring, entertaining, informative mix that doesn’t take itself too seriously but also brings people the news they need to know." 
 
 Megyn Kelly readies for her June 4 debut on NBC, where she'll host newsmagazine 'Sunday Night,' and this fall, a morning show. (Photo: Brian Doben, NBC) 
 
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 Scott Pelley will stay with the network as a full-time correspondent for "60 Minutes." | AP Photo Scott Pelley out as CBS Evening News anchor 
 
 Scott Pelley is out as CBS Evening News anchor, POLITICO has confirmed. 
 
 Pelley will stay with the network as a full-time correspondent for "60 Minutes," according to people familiar with the decision. 
 
 Story Continued Below 
 
 The New York Post first reported the news on Tuesday evening. A formal announcement is expected on Wednesday. 
 
 Those familiar with the situation said the removal has been in the works for a while. Guest anchors will fill the evening news chair until a replacement is chosen. Pelley has been out on "60 Minutes" assignment for the past few days, but he's expected to return to the anchor seat to say farewell to viewers. 
 
 The 59-year-old Pelley, who has been with CBS for nearly three decades, was named anchor of the evening news in 2011, succeeding Katie Couric. 
 
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 During Pelley's tenure, "CBS Evening News" has regularly trailed ABC and NBC evening newscasts in the ratings, and had the steepest ratings drop of the three major broadcast networks in the first quarter of 2017. 
 
 CBS declined to comment. 
 
 UPDATE 5/31/17: 
 
 CBS formally announced Pelley's move to "60 Minutes" on Wednesday. Anthony Mason will serve as interim "CBS Evening News" anchor. 
 
 In a statement, CBS News President David Rhodes portrayed the move as Pelley returning to "60 Minutes" in its important 50th season. 
 
 “Scott brought the best values of 60 Minutes to the CBS Evening News, and we thank him for his commitment to the journalism of this broadcast every night these past six years,” Rhodes said. “The milestone 50th season of 60 Minutes requires Scott’s full contribution, and we look forward to important reporting from him for many years to come.” 
 
 “I find my heart filled with gratitude for the opportunity to know you, humility, in light of your sacrifices, and hope for the future of journalism because of the standards you live by,” Pelley said in the statement. “CBS has been great to me for nearly 30 years. I’m glad to accept this assignment with continuing gratitude.” 

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 Scott Pelley is out at “CBS Evening News,” Page Six has exclusively learned. 
 
 Sources tell us that “Poison Pelley’s” office was being cleared out Tuesday while the anchor was away on an assignment for the network’s news magazine “60 Minutes.” 
 
 We’re told he’s being shifted permanently to “60 Minutes.” 
 
 Insiders tell us that CBS News president David Rhodes “is making [Pelley] move to ‘60 Minutes,’ ” and that the pair “don’t get on.” 
 
 Another TV insider said that while Pelley’s ratings have been down, “There’s also been friction between him and [Rhodes].” 
 
 Added a source, “[Pelley] was pushed out of the ‘Evening News.’ It’s been coming for a long time. This could have been handled better — [Pelley] is away on a story, and they’re cleaning out his office. It’s not the correct way to treat the face of CBS News.” 
 
 No replacement has yet been named, but CBS has a deep bench of anchors who can fill in. 
 
 Sources say there was confusion Tuesday among staff at CBS’ Hell’s Kitchen headquarters as workers began dismantling the office of Pelley — dubbed “Poison Pelley” by Page Six after he yelled at a reporter in 2013, “You wouldn’t last 10 seconds at CBS News!” 
 
 Others insist Pelley is moving to the “60 Minutes” offices. 
 
 We reported in December that Pelley was on his way out of the anchor chair on the flagship news show — where he has sat since he succeeded Katie Couric in 2011. 
 
 At the time, the network denied the story, telling us, “There’s no truth to this.” 
 
 But now, there is a lot of truth to it. 
 
 CBS News didn’t comment. 
 
 Sources have confirmed that Anthony Mason has been named as “interim anchor” to replace Pelley immediately. But he hasn’t landed the big job full time — yet.
– Scott Pelley is out as the anchor of CBS Evening News, and Megyn Kelly's anticipated new Sunday night show on NBC might have something to do with it. Kelly's show debuts this weekend, and a wary CBS is looking to beef up 60 Minutes, which runs at the same time, reports the New York Times. Pelley is seen as a big part of that strategy, and he is moving full time to 60 Minutes. The New York Post's Page Six first reported that Pelley is out as the evening news anchor, a seat he has held since replacing Katie Couric in 2011. The Post, however, suggests that friction between Pelley and CBS News president David Rhodes is the main issue. Either way, the move takes effect immediately. Pelley's office was being cleaned out while he's on assignment for 60 Minutes in the Middle East. Guest anchors will fill in until a permanent replacement is named, though Politico reports that Pelley is expected to return at least once to say farewell to viewers. Not helping his cause: CBS regularly trails ABC and NBC in the evening news ratings, and things had gotten even worse in 2017. Kelly's show, Sunday Night With Megyn Kelly, debuts 7pm Eastern on Sunday, notes USA Today, with a news magazine format.