You should try to understand how CNN makes money. Carriage fees free m every cable and satellite provider brings in over a billion a year without viewer #1. So no, they aren’t dependent on ratings and no they are not a loss leader.
You keep saying that and it's not correct.
Cable channel income comes from different sources, carriage fees being one of them. In addition to carriage fees, your ratings bring in even more money from advertisers.
Advertisers are not paying the same for an under 1 million rated program on CNN as they pay for a super high rated 3.5 million rated program on Fox News.