It looks like one of the biggest casualties of the Obama Administration is CNN.

Fourth months into the new presidency, television ratings for cable news networks on the right and left have improved, both at the expense of CNN, the one-time industry leader and purported non-partisan network.

In May, Fox News continued its reign as the cable news leader with more audience than No. 2 MSNBC and No. 3 CNN combined. The nine top rated prime-time news shows were all Fox News programs, led by "The O'Reilly Factor" - the top show for the 102nd consecutive month - "Hannity" and "Glenn Beck."

MSNBC, for the second time in three months, trumped CNN in total viewers, solidifying its position as the No. 2 network. "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" is the only non-Fox News program to crack the top 10, and "The Rachel Maddow Show" has topped CNN's "Larry King Live" at the 9 p.m. slot for the seventh time in eight months among viewers aged 25-54.

Most troubling for CNN is the continuing decline of its heavily-promoted "Anderson Cooper 360." Its sharp drop in viewership hasn't stopped since Election Day, with several nights this month failing to reach even half a million (by contrast, O'Reilly pulls an average of nearly 3 million).

There's no question the swing to the center has hurt the network, notes Michael Calderon of Politico:

"The audience is becoming increasingly accustomed to finding opinions in prime-time," said Tom Rosenstiel, director of Pew's Project for Excellence in Journalism. ...

And there's a certain irony in all the hand-wringing because a news network decides upon taking a less ideological approach to the news in prime-time. In the 1990's, CNN couldn't shake the "Clinton News Network" nickname among conservatives, and yet now, is viewed as the more moderate network given MSNBC's prime-time lurch to the left.

One silver lining for CNN is the rapid improvement of HLN, formerly Headline News. Led by Nancy Grace's reporting on various missing children and social gossip, HLN is up a whopping 43% in total viewers compared to May 2008. HLN even surpassed CNN for the most desired 25-54 demographic for third place (219,000 vs. 216,000) in May.

Posted by Samuel Chi at 10:08 AM | Permalink

In spite of (or, perhaps because of) the perception that the Fox News Channel is hyper-critical of President Obama, it continues to dominate cable news ratings. In April, Fox News' viewership in fact grew from the previous three months, with an audience that exceeded the combined total of both CNN and MSNBC.

For prime time, (8-11 p.m.), Fox News averaged 551,000 viewers in the target 25-54 demo. MSNBC has jumped past CNN, though still finished a distant second, with 271,000. CNN is third with 248,000 and its little sibling HLN fourth with 231,000. In addition to the growth of Fox News (a staggering 63%) and HLN (47%) over April 2008, MSNBC was up 16%, while CNN was down 12%.

Fox News had the top 11 cable news programs in total viewers and 12 of the top 15 in the demo. The phenomenal success of Glenn Beck's program, at 5 p.m., has helped that growth. In fact, every program on Fox News from 9 a.m. and on has seen at least a 60% percent increase in the demo, led by Beck's 212% over the same period in 2008.

Despite Obama's robust approval ratings, at least one pundit thought Fox News' soaring ratings are a cause for concern for the left:

That most new cable news viewers are turning to Fox, rather than to CNN or MSNBC, is what's scaring the hell out of me. Fox anchors, particularly in primetime, preach a brand of ignorant negativity that will never help us get out of the economic mess we're in. They seem to hope that Obama will fail, while most of the rest of us hope that he will succeed. But, if I'm right when I say "most of us," why is it that more people are watching FoxNews in primetime than CNN and MSNBC combined.

I've written before that I believe what people watch on television more accurately reflects their true feelings than what they tell pollsters over the telephone. If that's the case, it would seem there are more haters than there are hopers, and we are in for a very hard time.

Posted by Samuel Chi at 02:49 AM | Permalink

Fox News has run up unprecedented ratings numbers since the inauguration of President Barack Obama. Beginning in January, Fox News has dominated cable news rivals and reached No. 2 in overall cable ratings, behind only USA.

It seems like being Obama's No. 1 critic has been a winning ticket for Fox News. And a recent Pew Research Center survey appeared to agree with that observation.

Nearly 30 percent of those surveyed from April 17-20 thought Fox News was too critical of Obama, including 44 percent of Democrats and 25 percent independents. Even 18 percent of Republicans thought Fox News' coverage of Obama was too harsh.

On the flip side, all three major networks, CNN and MSNBC received about the same amount of complaints about being too easy on Obama, between 13-16 percent. Republican dissatisfaction went across the board, with between 22-28 percent believing these five networks were too easy on Obama. About one-sixth of independents also thought so.

One interesting side note on the survey: While Fox News stood out as the one that's most critical of Obama, a majority of independents thought multiple networks were too easy on Obama (to go with 62% of Republicans). You may even suggest that while being critical (or too critical) of Obama has been good business for Fox News, none of the other networks has reaped much benefit by appearing to be easy on Obama.

Posted by Samuel Chi at 07:03 PM | Permalink

According to the Drudge Report, Fox News had a banner day on tax day, particularly with its coverage of the various Tea Parties across the nation protesting taxes.

The numbers from Wednesday night - (prime-time viewers from 8-11 p.m.)

Fox News - 3,390,000
MSNBC - 1,210,000
CNN - 1,070,000
HLN - 909,000

And Fox's programming also dominated viewership among cable news shows -

Fox News O'Reilly - 3,980,000
Fox News Hannity - 3,239,000
Fox News van Susteren- 2,947,000
Fox News Beck - 2,740,000
Fox News Baier - 2,401,000
Fox News Smith - 2,185,000
Comedy Central Stewart - 1,777,000
MSNBC Olbermann - 1,499,000
Comedy Central Colbert - 1,446,000
HLN Grace - 1,336,000
CNN King - 1,292,000
MSNBC Maddow - 1,149,000
CNN Cooper - 1,021,000

In fact, Fox News' viewership beat the combined total of CNN, MSNBC and HLN in every hour beginning at 5 p.m., except the the 7 p.m. slot.

Washington Post media critic Howard Kurtz complained that how the TV networks covered the day's events also became news in itself. He thought Fox News had gone a bit over the top:

The media coverage even became a factor in the reporting. At a Chicago demonstration, CNN's Susan Roesgen started arguing with a protester over why he referred to President Obama as a fascist. "I think you get the general tenor of this," she reported. "It's anti-government. Anti-CNN. This is highly promoted by the right-wing conservative network Fox." Fox anchor Shepard Smith later laughed off her words.

On the other hand, this brief rant by Fox Business Network anchor Cody Willard, posted by a Daily Kos contributor, didn't meet my definition of fair and balanced. Speaking of a young girl, Willard says: "Now she has to pay for the $800-billion Republican-Democrat fascist stimulus package . . . Guys, when are we going to wake up and start fighting the fascism that seems to be permeating this country?"

Guys, what happened to we're-just-covering-the-events?

But where Kurtz stands on this is somewhat debatable. After all, he works for CNN on the "Reliable Sources" and his network made a conscious decision to either shun or downplay the Tea Party events. Fox News definitely had a great day - but it simply made a smart business decision.

Posted by Samuel Chi at 03:07 AM | Permalink

So far, the Obama Administration has been great business for Fox News.

Led by the trio of Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity and newcomer Glenn Beck, Fox News maintained its hold as the leading cable news network for March, as well as the first quarter of 2009. Fox News' primetime viewership of 2.3 million was more than the combined total of No. 2 CNN (1.1 million) and No. 3 MSNBC (957,000). HLN, formerly Headline News, is fourth (330,000).

O'Reilly celebrated his 100th consecutive month as the leading cable news program, dating back to 2000. Hannity, sans his former lefty sidekick/punching bag Alan Colmes, is No. 2, up 36% from the same period last year. Overall, Fox News has nine of the top 10 cable news programs in viewership.

The phenomenal growth of Glenn Beck's 5 p.m. show has been a boost to Fox News. A self-proclaimed "rodeo clown," Beck switched from HLN to Fox News two months ago and has increased viewership for the same time slot by nearly 100% from a year ago. Beck's show is now a solid No. 3 overall.

While Fox News' hold on top is unchallenged, CNN is desperately trying to fend off MSNBC for second place. Among primetime viewers, CNN has fallen behind MSNBC in the most desirable demographic category of 25-54 year-olds, and with only about half of Fox News' audience.

With the addition of Rachel Maddow in the 9 p.m. slot, MSNBC has siphoned off considerable number of viewers from CNN. Once the dominant cable news show, Larry King Live is on the verge of being pushed into third place for the time slot behind both Hannity and Maddow.

The slide of Larry King may be symptomatic of the struggles at CNN, which is trying to entrench itself as the "middle ground" between Fox News on the right and MSNBC on the left. The problem seems to be that there's not a lot of audience for that in an increasingly polarized political landscape:

Over time ... King's show has become the home of criminal mysteries, and entertainment conversation. For viewers who want political talk, either FNC or MSNBC is the place to go. It is really is only a matter of time until Maddow starts beating King on a nightly basis ... King's slide is another symptom of CNN's inability to keep up with the times.

Meanwhile, network news continued its inexorable decline. NBC, with Brian Williams, maintained its hold on first place with modesty growth in the first quarter. ABC's Charles Gibson came in second while Katie Couric and CBS languished in third, with nearly 3 million fewer viewers than NBC.

Posted by Samuel Chi at 10:57 AM | Permalink

The presidency of Barack Obama has proved to be a boon for conservative media. Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity have relished being targeted by the administration by name. And Fox News is continuing its reign as the ruler of the cable news universe.

While Fox News remains comfortably ahead of MSNBC and CNN in total and prime-time ratings, it has vaulted into second place in prime-time among all cable networks, behind only USA. Fox News' prime-time audience (2.8 million) easily doubled CNN (1.3 million) and MSNBC (1.1 million). Through February, Fox News has led the cable news ratings for 86 consecutive months.

Standing athwart of the Obama tide and yelling stop has been great business for Fox News, whose overall ratings jumped (21%) in February while CNN's declined sharply (44%). While claiming that its news programming is non-partisan, Fox News has benefited from its commentators' vociferous criticism of the Obama administration. The top three rated news talk shows currently are, in order: Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck.

Hannity's show has gotten a lift (up 38%) since shedding his hapless liberal sidekick Alan Colmes in January. But the addition of Glenn Beck to the 5 p.m. slot has proved to be a ratings bonanza that's beyond even the network's expectations. Beck, 45, who hosted his show on Headline News the last two years, has doubled the ratings for the time slot since joining Fox News in January. "I look at the ratings every day shocked," he told the L.A. Times.

The liberal-led lineup of MSNBC has also gained ground, getting a huge boost from Rachel Maddow in the 9 p.m. slot. Maddow, 35, is now regularly beating CNN's old war horse Larry King, whose show is now the lone CNN prime-time program in the top 20 in cable ratings.

Just how bad are things at CNN, the erstwhile industry leader and purported "centrist" in the cable news war? For two days last week, it was beaten by Headline News in prime-time. Yep, the little-sister network did it with Nancy Grace, whose coverage of the sensational Florida murder mystery of Caylee Anthony topped Anderson Cooper in the 10 p.m. slot.

Posted by Samuel Chi at 02:21 AM | Permalink

While Congress continues to squabble over what's in and what's out of the stimulus package, 20 million television viewers will be waiting breathlessly to see if they'll need to shell out a few bucks just to catch American Idol.

Currently still in the bill is a $650 million provision that will send $40 rebate checks to 6 million households that have yet to convert their analog TVs to digital. (If you do the math, we really only need $240 million, but how could they possibly do anything without larding it up with a little pork?) After Friday's Senate compromise, the provision stayed in, pending this week's negotiations with the House - then President Obama's signature.

All of the U.S.'s broadcast signals were to be converted to digital-only by February 17. But at the urging of President Obama, the deadline has been extended to June 12. Unless given another extension, all analog television sets (sold before 2004) will be rendered obsolete unless they're connected to cable, satellite or a converter box.

All four major networks have pledged to wait until the June 12 deadline to extinguish the analog signals. But many people - unaware of the extension - have already worked themselves up into a tizzy:

Betty Poesch, a retired dental assistant in Holladay, spent about $430 to convert four televisions to digital, including buying two converter boxes, two antennas, and a VCR/DVD player and digital tuner. All this so she could record shows such as "CSI" and "NCIS."

"It's a big inconvenience," she said. "I don't understand why they had to do it. We had to go replace everything."

Here's an idea: Maybe that provision should be scratched out of the stimulus bill. People will go on a television-buying binge and maybe kill the recession just like that. Americans can't live without their TVs.

Posted by Samuel Chi at 04:20 AM | Permalink

On Oct. 7, Fox News celebrated its 12th anniversary. At the end of the year, it claimed its seven consecutive cable news crown.

Aided by the historic presidential election, Fox News had a record year in terms of viewership - as did its rivals CNN and MSNBC. Fox News finished the year with an average of 2.1 million prime-time viewers, up 40% from 2007. CNN was second at 1.3 million and MSNBC third at 920,000.

The three networks continue to diverge, politically. Fox News further solidified its standing on the right after the departure of Alan Colmes and the addition of Glenn Beck. MSNBC kept drifting left, adding Rachel Maddow to its lineup. CNN/US President Jon Klein, meanwhile, said his network is going nowhere:

Our competition clearly entrenched themselves on the partisan flank, left and right, and that left the vast middle open to us.

The explosive growth of cable news should worry the networks, whose news divisions have continued to be money losers with an ever-shrinking audience. The ratings in general weren't good for broadcast networks, but evening news programs continued to tank in the face of the cable onslaught.

NBC News remains No. 1, up by 3% over 2007. ABC is second, down 3%; and CBS's Katie Couric, despite a slight uptick in recent weeks, will finish last again, down 5%.

Posted by Samuel Chi at 06:15 AM | Permalink

Millions of kids would've woken up to 2009 missing Dora, Diego and SpongeBob. And their parents? No Stephen Colbert, Jon Stewart, Chocolate News or South Park.

Whew, crisis averted.

While the rest of the world celebrated the new year, negotiators at Time Warner Cable and Viacom cut a deal in the opening hours of 2009 to avert a blackout that would have affected nearly 16 million households. A total of 19 channels, including MTV, Comedy Central and Nickelodeon would've been blacked out because of a dispute over increased subscriber fees.

This wasn't the first time that Time Warner, or cable companies, have had such a nasty public dispute with their programming partners. Between Comcast and Time Warner, the nation's two largest cable carriers, there have been no fewer than a dozen fights with various local affiliates and cable networks over just the last two years.

The most public of the cable fights involved the NFL Network, which currently is not being seen on most of the cable carriers. The powerful National Football League ultimately could not leverage its popularity against the cable behemoths. Most of the other disputes also ended in the cable company's favor, until Viacom came along and stared down Time Warner.

Sometimes I just wonder why people continue to live under the tyranny of cable. Besides the frequent games of brinksmanship, cable companies, particularly Comcast, are legendary in their atrocious customer service - just ask the elderly lady Mona Shaw, who last year literally hammered Comcast after being given one last run-around.

In 1996, fed up with cable, I signed up with a fledgling outfit for my television needs. It was a novel concept at the time but over the next decade-plus, it's proved to be one shrewd move. I've relocated more than a dozen times since then, but everywhere I went, I always had my DirecTV.

Don't take my word for it, ask Beyonce.

Posted by Samuel Chi at 08:41 PM | Permalink