Cable News Ratings for December 11, 2006

P2+ Total Day
FNC – 733,000 viewers
CNN – 451,000 viewers
MSNBC – 281,000 viewers
CNBC – 165,000 viewers
HLN – 202,000 viewers

P2+ Prime Time
FNC – 1,555,000 viewers
CNN – 643,000 viewers
MSNBC – 473,000 viewers
CNBC – a scratch with 98,000 viewers
HLN – 345,000 viewers

25-54 Total Day
FNC – 213,000 viewers
CNN – 157,000 viewers
MSNBC –100,000 viewers
CNBC – 55,000 viewers
HLN – 81,000 viewers

25-54 Prime Time
FNC – 336,000 viewers
CNN – 172,000 viewers
MSNBC – 176,000 viewers
CNBC – a scratch with 18,000 viewers
HLN –112,000 viewers

Morning programs P2+ (25-54)
FOX & Friends – 685,000 viewers (282,000)
American Morning – 319,000 viewers (122,000)
Imus in The Morning- 284,000 viewers (101,000)
Robin & Co. – 210,000 viewers (99,000)
(more…)

CNN announced this afternoon that Lou Dobss will be hosting a War on the Middle Class Town Hall Meeting on Thursday, December 14th at 7pm ET…

CNN anchor and best-selling author Lou Dobbs will host a town hall meeting live from the Italian Club in Tampa, Fla., on Thursday, Dec. 14, at 7 p.m. (ET). Dobbs will examine the impact of rising property taxes, a higher cost of living and the trade deficit for residents of Tampa as well as the rest of the country and the middle class.

Dobbs will be joined by guests U.S. Rep. Jim Davis (D-Fla.) of the House Energy and Commerce Committee; Maryellen Elia, superintendent of Hillsborough County, Fla., Public Schools; and Ron Pollack, founding executive director of Families USA. Dobbs will also broadcast Lou Dobbs Tonight live from Tampa prior to the town hall at 6 p.m. (ET).

Viewers can learn more about Lou Dobbs on CNN.com/loudobbstonight, where they can offer feedback and ask questions. CNN Pipeline, CNN.com’s premium live news video service, will also air the town hall.

CJR Daily’s Paul McLeary rakes CNN’s Jeff Greenfield over the coals for some questionable analysis of Barack Obama that aired on The Situation Room…

That’s right, he actually drew a connection between a U.S. senator and possible presidential candidate and the Holocaust-denying, terrorist-supporting president of Iran –because neither wears a tie. But the most amateurish — and for CNN and Greenfield, the most embarrassing — part of the broadcast was still to come.

“Now, it is one thing to have a last name that sounds like Osama and a middle name, Hussein, that is probably less than helpful,” Greenfield blundered on, “but an outfit that reminds people of a charter member of the axis of evil, why, this could leave his presidential hopes hanging by a thread. Or is that threads?”

An emailer wrote in to complain about Rita Cosby doing an interview during Contessa Brewer’s 2pm shift today after just having anchored the previous hour…

Are Contessa Brewer and the other MSNBC news anchors not qualified enough to do interviews? I just don’t understand why Rita has to invade other anchors air time to do interviews. It’s not live it’s some super important exclusive interview, it’s David Duke.

Newslab’s Deborah Potter has a profile of FNC…

Fox News Channel’s impact on TV news has been so pervasive and profound that it’s hard to believe the network is only 10 years old. FNC’s flashy graphics, frenetic pace and opinionated hosts have spawned imitators across the spectrum. Compare CNN’s Lou Dobbs today — with his on-camera rants about immigration and outsourcing — to the staid Dobbs who anchored the old “Moneyline,” and it’s obvious he’s been “Foxified.” Check out MSNBC’s multilayered graphics, complete with scrolling text and whooshing sound effects, and the Fox imprint is clear.

None of that seemed likely when FNC launched. CNN was well established, and two-month-old MSNBC was seen as the comer, with its corporate backing and established news pedigree. CNN’s Ted Turner boasted that he’d squash Fox News “like a bug.” Even the head of Fox News admits it started way behind. “We had no newsgathering operation..no studios, no equipment, no employees, no stars, no talent and no confidence from anybody,” Roger Ailes is quoted as saying in Scott Collins’ book, “Crazy Like a Fox.”

MSNBC won the daytime Demo Sunday.

UPDATE: With the dropping of live news 12-4 on Sunday, I decided to look at MSNBC’s daytime Demo numbers prior to this change. According to my records, Sunday’s 141,000 Demo viewers was the highest Sunday daytime Demo number MSNBC has had since before the beginning of October (which is as far back as I looked). So, it appears that, for the first day at least, the change has paid off in higher ratings.

Cable News Ratings for December 9, 2006

P2+ Total Day
FNC –618,000 viewers
CNN – 411,000 viewers
MSNBC – 317,000 viewers
CNBC – 325,000 viewers
HLN – 233,000 viewers

P2+ Prime Time
FNC – 962,000 viewers
CNN – 499,000 viewers
MSNBC – 473,000 viewers
CNBC – 430,000 viewers
HLN – 236,000 viewers

25-54 Total Day
FNC – 181,000 viewers
CNN – 133,000 viewers
MSNBC –142,000 viewers
CNBC – 115,000 viewers
HLN – 107,000 viewers

25-54 Prime Time
FNC – 206,000 viewers
CNN – 191,000 viewers
MSNBC – 202,000 viewers
CNBC – 126,000 viewers
HLN – 120,000 viewers
(more…)

The Miami Herald’s Glenn Garvin interviewed Sean Hannity about his trip with Donald Rumsfeld…

‘’It was interesting — his mood was completely upbeat,'’ says Hannity. ‘’No matter what anyone else may say, he’s proud of everything he’s done.'’ And Rumsfeld is still popular with the grunts, Hannity adds: “You had troops lining up to get photos and autographs at every stop.'’

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Mackenzie Carpenter has a profile of Countdown host Keith Olbermann…

“I am not Peter Finch walking around the streets of New York in my pajamas as Howard Beale muttering to myself and saying, ‘I must bear my witness.’ It’s not like that.”

A pungent brew of opinion, straight news, tabloid and celebrity gossip, “Countdown” is hardly a traditional newscast. And while it may not be “Network,” Olbermann’s show is attracting plenty of viewers who are mad as hell at the Bush administration and don’t want to take it anymore.

His commentaries, delivered in the stentorian, staccato style of Edward R. Murrow, along with snarky asides and “Worst Person in the World” awards to various political foes, have made him a hero to liberals and anathema to conservatives, and, most important, they have boosted MSNBC’s ratings out of the third-place cellar.

The Patriot News’ Brett Lieberman speculates that soon to be former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum may be joining FNC in some capacity…(via TVNewser)

Santorum has been negotiating a cable deal, which political insiders say most likely is with Fox — though MSNBC and CNN have been mentioned as well — “to be a screamer,” as one political operative put it.

However ICN has learned that there have been no formal discussions between FNC and Santorum.