Cable News Ratings for December 19, 2006

P2+ Total Day
FNC – 940,000 viewers
CNN – 531,000 viewers
MSNBC – 294,000 viewers
CNBC – 213,000 viewers
HLN – 252,000 viewers

P2+ Prime Time
FNC – 1,706,000 viewers
CNN – 954,000 viewers
MSNBC – 543,000 viewers
CNBC – 328,000 viewers
HLN – 378,000 viewers

25-54 Total Day
FNC – 280,000 viewers
CNN – 195,000 viewers
MSNBC –125,000 viewers
CNBC – 74,000 viewers
HLN – 106,000 viewers

25-54 Prime Time
FNC – 440,000 viewers
CNN – 359,000 viewers
MSNBC – 222,000 viewers
CNBC – 109,000 viewers
HLN –170,000 viewers

Morning programs P2+ (25-54)
FOX & Friends – 934,000 viewers (371,000)
American Morning – 371,000 viewers (151,000)
Imus in The Morning- 180,000 viewers (53,000)
Robin & Co. – 225,000 viewers (105,000)
(more…)

Today during CNN Newsroomm, Kyra Phillips had an exclusive interview with General Richard Cody, Army Vice Chief of Staff General Cody talked about troop levels, training for the troops and the suicide rate. Transcript follows…

PHILLIPS: Now, President Bush, as you heard. He wants a bigger Army and Marine Corps. And he may want a surge in troops for Iraq.

General Richard Cody is the U.S. Army’s vice chief of staff, the man who makes sure the commander in chief has the soldiers that he needs. He joins us live from Washington in an exclusive interview this afternoon.

Sir, it’s great to have you with us. And I guess your first reaction, I’m going to ask you if you can do this, but what — do you think this is a good move first? Let me ask you that.

GEN. RICHARD CODY, ARMY VICE CHIEF OF STAFF: We’ve been — I do think it’s a good move. You know, after the first Gulf War, we downsized our army by about 40 percent in what people thought was the peace dividend.
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City Belt’s Emma Pollin takes on both CNN and MSNBC (and CBS but I’m not interested in that particular angle) for banking on TV personalities like Anderson Cooper, Keith Olbermann, and Tucker Carlson…(via FishbowlLA)

CNN is not alone. 2006 could be remembered as the year news shows tried to become like other TV shows, shunning the dusty model of anchors, reporters and commentators and turning instead to shows based on TV personalities. With the help of the Paris Hilton construct of individual as brand, the news landscape has been repopulated with name shows: AC 360, Countdown with Keith Olbermann, Tucker, and of course, The CBS Evening News WITH KATIE COURIC, which doesn’t have that capitalization, but, let’s face it, really should.

Glenn Garvin blogs about the rumored 4 million price tag for Keith Olbermann’s new contract…

First, Broadcasting & Cable magazine reported that MSNBC is balking at Keith Olbermann’s demand to quadruple his $1 million a year salary when his contract is up in April. Wonder if anyone at MSNBC has been impolitic enough during negotiations to note that Olbermann, for all his media darlinghood, still gets beaten like a drum — a 2-to-1 margin or more — by Bill O’Reilly?

If it never was 4 million somebody at MSNBC should shoot that down because it’s starting to become a PR problem…

TVNewser has an email from Carol Lin addressing the Variety article…

UPDATE: TVNewser has Variety’s Learmonth responding to Lin and standing by his story…

MSNBC announced today that it will be airing the series “Warrior Nation” beginning January 9th at 10pm ET…

MSNBC’s “Warrior Nation,” takes viewers inside the world of MMA, mixed martial arts, beginning January 9th at 10 p.m. ET. MMA, one of the fastest-growing sports in the nation, combines various fighting styles including wrestling, boxing, Tai Kwon Do, Karate and submission grappling. It’s a “no-holds-barred” combat sport that has become a successful enterprise throughout the world and has been called “the next NASCAR.” Each episode opens the door to the lives of fighters and the struggles that they endure in this popular sport. Veteran fighters, such as Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz, fans favorites, including Urijah Faber, as well as up-and-coming fighters, are portrayed. The four-part series airs each week on consecutive Tuesdays, beginning January 9th at 10 p.m. ET. “Warrior Nation” is the first of two documentary series produced by 29 Stories LLC for MSNBC.

“‘Warrior Nation’ is not just about fighting,” says Long-Form Programming Vice President Michael Rubin, “it’s about a quickly growing American phenomenon; the millions of fans and tens of thousands of young athletes who gravitate to this new sport, hoping to springboard from obscurity to celebrity, using the most basic of tools–their bodies and fists.”
(more…)

Johnny Dollar has the audio from this morning’s Brian and the Judge radio show where Andrew Napolitano and Brian Kilmeade talk about the role Kilmeade inadvertently played in Donald Trump’s Miss USA decision making process…

The Orange Leader’s Ashley Sanders, Amy Moore, and Tommy Mann Jr. write about last night’s Paula Zahn Now Town Hall meeting on racism…

Racism is not just a Texas problem. Or a Vidor problem, for that matter.

That is the message CNN’s Paula Zahn shared with millions of viewers and a panel of invited guests during Tuesday’s airing of a special report on race relations in America — a taping which took place at the historic Jefferson Theater in Beaumont and was centered on daily life in the Southeast Texas town of Vidor.

“We’re here to find a new sense of harmony out of the pains of the past,” Zahn said.

The panel of guest speakers included an array of national personalities, as well as regional speakers. Two of the more vocal speakers included the Rev. Al Sharpton and Guy James Gray, the former district attorney in Jasper who tried the James Byrd Jr. case.