You are close. The real question is what does it say about the state of cable VIEWERS. If you look at Fox's ratings, the best shows have the lowest ratings. They still beat CNN, but the stuff that really gets ratings is tabloid. If you ask me, it's OK. When you are a super genius, as I am, you have to accept that most of the world is calibrated for a lower order of human. Better that Fox gets them than CNN.
I am kidding about the supergenius thing, of course, but only to make the point by way of exaggeration. It ain't Buckley's Firing Line that gets ratings, or Uncommon Knowledge ( http://www.uncommonknowledge.org )even if they are fascinating programs. It's tabloid journalism that sells.
That is the issue, and what I meant as well, but also being a supergenius I didn't feel the need to flesh it out fully. But, what made FOX number one was that they were different, I believe it was Brit Hume and those like him, it was the fact that when the president or others in the administration spoke live somewhere, they covered it when others didn't. That has changed lately, I am not convinced their current trend will keep them on top. I hope not anyway.