Broadcasting & Cable’s Anne Becker has more on CNN’s side of the story…

The gap-lowering should not all be attributed to 360, however. All of the news networks posted double-digit drops in November compared to the same period last year, when large audiences were tuning in for election coverage. CNN’s drop was lower than Fox News’. Year to year, CNN dropped 34% in the demo in total-day viewing to 129,000 viewers, while Fox News dropped 49% to 228,000 viewers. (MSNBC was down 20% to 97,000 viewers; CNBC was down 19% to 47,000 viewers; and Headline News was down 17% to 84,000 viewers).

FTVLive is reporting that the Journal Editorial Report program, currently running on PBS, may be moving to FNC.

UPDATE: FNC issued a release announcing the move…

The Journal Editorial Report, a production of The Wall Street Journal, will move to Fox News Channel (FNC) beginning in January, announced Bill Shine, senior vice president of programming, Fox News.
(more…)

The November numbers are out and the “what it all means” he said/she said analysis begins….

CNN is touting its rival FNC’s diminished Total Day Demo numbers for the month of November ‘05 vs. November ‘04. CNN notes that FNC “lost HALF of its Total Day P25-54 audience, delivering their lowest numbers in over 2 years!”

CNN went on to note that the only network to show gains in either total viewers or the P25-54 Demo was HLN.

Other tidbits from CNN…
(more…)

TV Guide.com’s Stephen Battaglio got a Q&A with Steve Capus. There’s some info regarding MSNBC which, in my opinion, is part news but unfortunately also part spin…(via TVNewser)
(more…)

Liz Smith got Brown to have lunch with her…

“I don’t know exactly what I will do,” he mused as a succession of media visitors came to interrupt us and ask where they might register their outrage at his “NewsNight” cancellation — among them ABC veteran visionary Av Westin and Fox TV’s Roger Ailes. Aaron expressed admiration for the manner in which Fox beats the pants off its competitors. “They are the most on-target, disciplined bunch I’ve ever seen!” he told Roger. And we talked with one man who said he was a journalism teacher from the Midwest. He professed much admiration for Aaron, who has had a long career — at ABC under Roone Arledge in “the good old days.” Then Aaron made his mark with the heartfelt emotional coverage he did for CNN during 9/11 from a Manhattan rooftop. “I will never forget your magnificent work in those terrible days,” said the teacher.

The New York Times’ Jacques Steinberg writes about Capus…

Its most notable innovation so far was announced by Mr. Capus earlier this month: NBC became the first broadcast network to make its early-evening newscast available later each night, at no charge, on the Internet. Soon, the network expects to offer similar online versions of “Today” and “Meet the Press,” and is already providing news updates to cellphone customers of Verizon, Sprint and AT&T, among others.

In an interview yesterday, Mr. Zucker said, “There’s no question the biggest priority for Steve in the coming two years is the evolution of news gathering and delivery of news, via new models.”

The AP’s David Bauder writes about Steve Capus’ position as President of NBC News being made permanent….

His new job gives him authority over MSNBC and its president, Rick Kaplan. MSNBC hasn’t been able to escape the ratings cellar in its competition with Fox News Channel and CNN, but Capus said it has made NBC a stronger news organization.

“We have become much more aggressive because NBC News is in the 24-7 business,” he said. “We have to respond quickly and aggressively to stories.”
(more…)

TVNewser notes that MSNBC beat CNN in the Demo on Friday both in Total Day and Primetime. However on Saturday MSNBC beat CNN in Primetime and both FNC and CNN in the Primetime Demo…

Primetime P2+

FNC 668,000
MSNBC 412,000
CNN 396,000
HLN 172,000
CNBC 101,000

Primetime P25-54

MSNBC 207,000
FNC 160,000
CNN 117,000
HLN 57,000
CNBC 35,000

Though this could possibly be explained away because last weekend was a holiday weekend, the holiday excuse doesn’t work for the previous weekend when MSNBC beat FNC and CNN in the Primetime Demo on both Saturday and Sunday. But what is the reason for this? Is MSNBC showing increased strength in the coveted 25-54 age demographic? Or is the competition faltering by comparison?