Latest in Cable News

Overall TV usage was down 4.2% in March from February, with cable the one category growing in share and volume, jumping 1.6 points. Cable news viewing was up 14% from February and accounted for 21% of the cable share, driven by continuing news coverage of the Russia-Ukraine war. The stats were delivered today by Nielse…

Fox News topped the March ratings as well as the first quarter of 2022, while CNN saw its ratings rise in the past month, dominated by coverage of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Fox News averaged 2.86 million viewers in primetime, up 19% from the same month a year earlier. MSNBC averaged 1.28 million, down 29%, and…

Fox News topped the ratings in key categories during the month of May, but cable news overall saw significant declines from the same period a year earlier. The trendline across cable news in recent months has been downward versus 2020, when a presidential election and a worsening Covid-19 pandemic gripped the country…

Four progressive Peacock talk hosts expressed strong reservations about “platforming” Republican guests on their streaming shows in the currently divisive political and media atmosphere. Mehdi Hasan, Zerlina Maxwell, Michael Smith and Michael Holley, on a virtual TCA panel during Peacock’s winter press tour day…

Fox Corp. CEO Lachlan Murdoch said Fox News is not about to adjust its political orientation despite a bumpy period during and after the 2020 presidential election and a recent slip in its ratings. The network’s ratings have dropped about 13% in recent weeks, putting the network in the rare position of trailing CNN…

If any good is to come of the coronavirus outbreak, and just now it is hard to see even a glimmer of good, we might consider this: The media will have a shot at redemption. Japan is closing its schools. Saudi Arabia has put Umrah on hold. Cruise ships are dead in the water. And yes, the international movie box-office…

SECOND UPDATE One person has died after a car slammed into a group of counter-protesters in Charlottesville, the city’s mayor Mike Signer has confirmed. “I am heartbroken that a life has been lost here,” he tweeted. “I urge all people of good will–go home.” Media accounts put the number of injured as high as 34. The…

Cable news networks are surrounding a major story: North Korea has cleared a big technological hurdle to becoming a nuclear threat to the U.S. “It is the first big crisis of this administration,” one pundit said on MSNBC. Even Fox News had a defense expert conceding, “We’re in a new situation.” So how does President Do…

The Ed Show is exiting MSNBC’s primetime for weekends, host Ed Schultz announced tonight. "And in the big finish tonight, a big personal and professional announcement. MSNBC will be expanding its weekend programming and this opens a big opportunity for "The Ed Show" and my brand. I will be leaving this time slot at 8…

As the stock market plunged Monday, ratings for the cable news networks jumped up. Fox News Channel led the rally with 1.3 million viewers in total day, 29% higher than its July averages. CNN drew 538,000 viewers, up 21%, and MSNBC (455,000) was up 2%. On Monday night, Anderson Cooper made his debut at 8 p.m., which…

UPDATE: Don’t look for Time Magazine’s Mark Halperin to appear on another news show right away now that he’s been suspended by MSNBC. We’re told that the suspension does not let him out of his contract which precludes him from appearing on another news network during its duration. MSNBC President Phil Griffin…

CNN is a ratings mess right now, and the cable news channel is bringing in the guy who talent-scouted Glenn Beck, Nancy Grace, and Joy Behar to fix it. It’s getting its clocked cleaned by Fox News, and TPTB finally are doing something about it. But is it too late? CNN today announced that 6-year president Jonathan…