Donate to Swift Boat Vets for the Truth HERE.
Posted on 09/02/2004 7:19:36 PM PDT by nckerr
Cable's Fox News Channel appeared to make TV history by twice drawing bigger audiences than any of the big three commercial networks in their first matchups of the Republican convention, ratings figures showed on Thursday.
The Fox News telecast of Wednesday's speeches by Democratic conservative Zell Miller and Vice President Dick Cheney (news - web sites) averaged 5.9 million viewers during the 10 o'clock hour in which ABC, CBS and NBC joined live coverage of the proceedings.
That was even more than the network-leading 5.2 million viewers who tuned into Fox on Tuesday to hear California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (news - web sites) and first lady Laura Bush address the GOP delegates at New York's Madison Square Garden.
But the actor turned politician and Laura Bush proved more popular overall, with the combined audience for the three major broadcast networks and three cable outlets -- Fox News, CNN and MSNBC -- totaling 22.1 million on Tuesday, according to Nielsen Media Research.
The Miller-Cheney hour on Wednesday drew 18 million.
NBC ranked second on both Tuesday and Wednesday, with 5.1 million and 4.5 million viewers, respectively. CBS fell from 4.4 million on Tuesday to a lowly 2.6 million on Wednesday, suffering from a weak "lead-in" from the Latin Grammy Awards an hour earlier.
ABC fell from 4.3 million to 3.3 million one night to the next, while cable networks MSNBC and CNN also lost viewers, each dipping from more than 1.5 million to about 1.2 million. MSNBC finished both nights slightly ahead of CNN.
The Fox victory was believed to be the first time a cable channel has attracted more viewers than any of the three major broadcasters during an event covered by all the networks, the News Corp.-owned outlet said.
Broadcast network executives grumbled privately that Fox's triumph was no surprise given the cable channel's reputation as a conservative-leaning outlet favored by the Republican Party. One network official who spoke on condition of anonymity called the Republican National Convention a "made-for-Fox event."
Fox News spokesman Rob Zimmerman dismissed the barbs as sour grapes, saying: "The numbers speak for themselves. We obviously have a mass appeal."
By comparison, Fox's audience for former President Bill Clinton (news - web sites)'s speech on opening night of the Democratic convention in July -- also covered by all six networks -- averaged just 1.4 million viewers, while 2.5 million tuned into CNN.
As they did for the Democrats in Boston, the broadcast networks are limiting their prime-time coverage of the Republican convention in New York to one hour a night for three nights and skipping one evening of the event altogether. The three cable outlets are offering gavel-to-gavel coverage.
NBC is owned by General Electric Co. . CBS is a division of Viacom Inc. . ABC is owned by the Walt Disney Co. . CNN is a unit of Time Warner Inc. . MSNBC is a joint venture between NBC and Microsoft Corp. .
2 nights in a row Fox does what has never been done in cable history... BEAT THE ALPHABETS!
CNN DEAD LAST AGAIN!!!
Bump for making history. Congratulations to Fox!
And in the next sentence, I am sure he steadfastly denied that there is any bias against Republicans at his network.
Seems to me that this just proves that even the dumb sheeple can appreciate a more "balanced" coverage of news.
And tonight will make three.
Hat Trick!
Try as they might, Reuters just simply cannot avoid minimizing the successes of their enemies. Al Qaeda could lay down their arms and turn themselves in to the police forces of the world at Bush's request, OBL included, and Reuters would report "This appears to be a victory on the War on Terror."
Guess what I am helping Fox News win 3 nights in a row.
does anyone recall what the ratings were for the Democrat convention?
Wait until Election night coverage. The only thing working against Fox News that night will be their lack of having local retruns coverage. Of course I think it will be a short night waiting to find out who the winner is!
I love watching the OLD Media trounced by the 'youngun upstart' Fox. LOL
Hey FOX, WE made YOU! Now don't forget it!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.