Friday night was CNN’s lowest rated weekday primetime showing in April in both P2+ and A25-54….their previous low for P2+ was on Thanksgiving Day (November 23, 2006) where they averaged 410,000 and their previous low in 25-54 was on June 2, 2006 where they averaged 126,000 in the demo…Larry King was beaten across the board by MSNBC Investigates and lost to a Glenn Beck repeat in the Demo. Anderson Cooper 360 beat MSNBC at 10pm in Total Viewers but lost in the Demo (and was beaten by a Nancy Grace replay in the Demo). At 11pm 360 beaten across the board by MSNBC and Showbiz Tonight. FNC’s Total Viewer number beat everyone combined in primetime. On The Record led the way in the Demo.

Cable News Ratings for April 27, 2007

P2+ Total Day
FNC – 813,000 viewers
CNN – 405,000 viewers
MSNBC – 281,000 viewers
CNBC – 172,000 viewers
HLN – 217,000 viewers

P2+ Prime Time
FNC – 1,569,000 viewers
CNN – 459,000 viewers
MSNBC – 443,000 viewers
CNBC – a scratch with 100,000 viewers
HLN – 401,000 viewers

25-54 Total Day
FNC – 233,000 viewers
CNN – 134,000 viewers
MSNBC –114,000 viewers
CNBC – 65,000 viewers
HLN – 91,000 viewers

25-54 Prime Time
FNC – 349,000 viewers
CNN – 131,000 viewers
MSNBC – 214,000 viewers
CNBC – a scratch with 50,000 viewers
HLN – 137,000 viewers

Morning programs P2+ (25-54)
FOX & Friends – 850,000 viewers (301,000)
American Morning – 433,000 viewers (187,000)
MSNBC Live- 179,000 viewers (59,000)
Robin & Co. – 172,000 viewers (84,000)
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For those who watched it, what did you think of Stephanie Miller’s appearance this morning on MSNBC?

CNN announced its “Immigration Day” coverage plans this afternoon…

With special reports, live coverage and the latest “Broker Borders” town hall hosted by CNN anchor Lou Dobbs, CNN will cover all the angles of the second anniversary of the Immigration Day events and protests around the country.

CNN’s “Immigration Day 2007” coverage will put a face on the national immigration debate with live reports from special correspondent Soledad O’Brien from Chicago starting at 9 a.m. (ET) along with coverage from New York, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Phoenix, and other cities and locations where the impact is both national and local. With live reports on events and special in-depth interviews with the individuals affected, CNN will report and investigate all aspects of this important issue.
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In this week’s Steppin’ Out Magazine, Chaunce Hayden interviews FNC Courtney Friel…

Chaunce Hayden: Do you regret appearing in FHM ?

Courtney Friel: The FHM spread was part of the my job as the World Poker Tour host. The predessor and the girl who took over the show after me both did FHM as well. That was appropriate for that job. But it’s not appropriate for my job at Fox. That’s why I took the photos off my website.

Hayden: That must of raised some eyebrows at Fox.

Friel: Yeah, I’m sure some people at Fox thought, “Oh, who is this bikini chick?” But I’m very athletic and I also have a brain. So I don’t think there’s anything wrong with being able to showcase that. But I never did anything that wasn’t tasteful or lewd. FHM was just something I did to promote a show I was on. I also think that news and entertainment are almost becoming one in the same. Look at Maria Menounos. She’s done Stuff, FHM and Maxim and she’s on the Today Show. Trust me there’s a lot of people out there in the smaller news markets who have a lot more scandal associated with them than just a magazine spread.

HLN announced this morning that Glenn Beck will have a special on Global Warming airing Wednesday…

Headline News’ Glenn Beck, the nightly topical talk show featuring radio and TV personality Glenn Beck, presents a special that aims to deflate what Beck perceives as the media hype surrounding global warming and to ask questions about the causes of a warmer planet and possible solutions. The hour-long special report, “Exposed: Climate of Fear,” airs during Beck’s Headline Prime program on Wednesday, May 2, at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. (ET).

“If you believe the mainstream media hype, you’d think that every time you drive your SUV, the Earth’s temperature rises six degrees,” Beck said. “The reality is that many respected climatologists have questions about both the problem and the solution. We should understand both positions more fully before committing to any solutions that could do more harm than good, both to our environment and our economy. ”

During this special report, Glenn Beck questions the accuracy of Al Gore’s claims in the Oscar-winning documentary An Inconvenient Truth of 20-foot sea level rises and the disastrous effects of increased carbon dioxide levels. The program examines the criticism some esteemed scientists, climatologists and academics have faced for even raising questions about the “scientific consensus.”
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Diario Xalapa interviews Daryn Kagan. Kagan will be speaking at the eWomen Network’s 2007 International Conference and Business Expo in June.

Kagan’s venture is meeting with success. She explained that she has a media company and her Internet presence is its platform. According to her, the website is making money and “we’re finalizing a book deal” that should be done in a couple of weeks. She is excited that she owns her content, has a PBS documentary coming up and is doing public speaking.

Daryn claims not to look back wistfully to the kinds of things she once did, but admits that being on the red carpet at the Oscars, covering the Democratic National Convention and traveling with Bono was heady stuff. She expresses gratitude for her past opportunities.

Paul Bedard’s Washington Whispers says there may be more to this Bob Franken goodbye email than meets the eye…

We hear that correspondent Bob Franken wasn’t happy when cnn didn’t extend his contract. And now insiders aren’t happy with his goodbye note. It takes a shot at cable star Wolf Blitzer and ends with a promise to take his show to “another stage.” What happened? The star reporter wanted to cover the presidential race, but cnn wanted him to be a utility player. And insiders say he thinks he has that job lined up at another network.

This New York Times article by Alex Mindlin has an interesting bit of information regarding DVR playback…

Shows with content that can be quickly eclipsed by the news, broadly speaking, do not do well in DVR playback. Sports and news, for example, have almost no deferred viewing. That goes for contest shows, too.

“People know the next day that Sanjaya’s been voted out,” said Brad Adgate, senior vice president for research at Horizon Media, an ad-buying agency. “So there’s an immediacy to watching it live, or as close to live as you can.”

I missed this last Friday. FishbowlDC writes that former Maryland Lieutenant Governer Michael Steel has joined FNC as a contributor…

The Washington Post’s Howard Kurtz has a profile of NBC News President Steve Capus…

When he finally got home, close to midnight, on the night that his network aired part of the Virginia Tech killer’s video, Steve Capus felt drained.

“I was pretty numb,” the NBC News president says. “I definitely felt the pressure.”

In the space of seven days this month, the once lesser-known executive found himself in the maelstrom of two emotionally charged, fiercely debated controversies: whether Don Imus should remain on the air and whether Seung Hui Cho’s final recorded words should be broadcast to the world. In the face of an enormous backlash over Cho’s hate-filled video, Capus flew to Chicago last week and defended himself on “Oprah” — an unusually public posture for a man who generally labors in relative anonymity.

“I’m more comfortable behind the scenes,” admits Capus, 43.

Even as critics accused him of caving to pressure in dropping MSNBC’s simulcast of the Imus show — and, later, of giving a mass murderer the infamy he craved — Capus won plaudits at 30 Rock for his consensus-building style.

ABC’s Brian Ross appeared on Reliable Sources with Howard Kurtz today to talk about covering the D.C. Madam escort service story. Transcript follows…

HOWARD KURTZ, HOST: The D.C. madam has been talking to ABC News about her escort service, and a top administration official fingered as a client has already resigned. We’ll ask ABC’s Brian Ross about this breaking story.

(INAUDIBLE) not surprisingly, plenty of gossip and titillation when the woman who’s been dubbed the D.C. madam — her real name is Deborah Jeane Palfrey — who’s charged with running a high end prostitution ring here in the nation’s capital. She says lots of important people use the service and she’s been talking about this with ABC’s Brian Ross.

On Thursday, Ross spoke with Deputy Secretary of State Randall Tobias, whose phone number was in the escort service’s records. Tobias resigned late Friday and Ross, who’s working on a story for next week’s “20/20,” posted some of the details on his blog that night. ABC’s chief investigative reporter joins us now by phone from Connecticut. Brian Ross, thanks very much for calling in. Roughly, how many names are on this list and what kind of people are they?

BRIAN ROSS, ABC NEWS: There are several thousands names, tens of thousands of phone numbers and they range from administration officials to lobbyists to advisers who are well known, people who appear on television, lawyers, and then just a lot of sort of ordinary businessmen and CEOs.

KURTZ: And some women as well?
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On the eve of CNN’s Larry King week, Page Six conveniently puts up this little unflattering blurb…

LARRY King is a self-centered star who “gives celebrities a bad name,” according to a source who attended a screening with the CNN anchor in Bev erly Hills on Friday. “A few minutes into the film, he pulled out his cellphone and dialed a call and had a conversation. Not once, not twice, but at least three times,” our spy fumed. “And he received a call as well. His wife and her companion arrived 35 minutes into the film. Rather than duck down to avoid casting a shadow on the screen, they strode across the view, sat down, stood up to greet friends in the row behind them and then sat down again, after which she took out her cellphone, dialed a call and had a conversation. Then, near the end of the film, Larry stood up and loudly said to a colleague, ‘You’ll have to tell me how it turns out’ and left the screening room with his entourage. It’s the kind of ‘damn the rest of you’ behavior that gives celebrities a bad name.” King’s rep didn’t return e-mails.

Today on Fox News Sunday, Chris Wallace kiced off its new series “Choosing the President”. Senator John McCain appeared in an exlusive interview with Fox News Sunday host/moderator Chris Wallace. One of the subjects discussed was asking Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to resign…

You’ve got to have people who are loyal to you, as well as you being loyal to them. But it can’t be the most important quality. It’s a very important quality, but you also have to expect a certain level of performance that’s neither embarrassing to you, embarrassing to the American people, and most importantly a betrayal of the standards that we expect of public servants.

FNC’s Catherine Herridge obtained a copy of George Tenet’s controversial 9/11 tell-all “At the Center of the Storm” in advance of its Monday release…

Throughout the morning, Steve and I have been pouring over a copy of the new book by former CIA director, George Tenet. It doesn’t go on sale until Monday but there’s a lot of new information, a lot of headlines.

At around 11:58 am ET Friday, E.D. Hill read a story about Japanese dog lovers who bought what they thought were expensive miniature poodles at a discount, only to find out they were sheep. However this story is apparently a hoax. Another News Corp. site, news.com.au debunked the story here.

An insider told ICN that the show’s producers were warned about the bogus report.

UPDATE: Johnny Dollar says in the comments that the lower thirds said “Hoax”.

The Boston Globe’s Joanna Weiss interviews Chris Wallace after his event with his father Mike…

Q How do these events with your father go?

A They call it “60 Minutes With the Wallaces.” We spend 40 minutes interviewing each other. That’s kind of interesting, when you’re being interviewed by Mike Wallace. Since we know everything about each other, we have a sort of mutually assured destruction pact: I won’t embarrass him; he won’t embarrass me.

Q People must wonder why you went into journalism, since your father was so prominent in the field.

A When I went to Harvard, I was very serious about going to law school, and was about a week away from starting law school in 1969. But I was just so intrigued by the business. I’d been exposed to it growing up, and it seemed to me to be a great way to make a living. So I looked for a job in Boston. . . . I was fortunate enough to get a job as a starting reporter for the Globe.

On Sunday, during CNN’s 1opm newscast, Rick Sanchez will debate immigration issues with Lou Dobbs. This will precede two Lou Dobbs town hall meetings scheduled to air at Penn State in Hazleton on Wednesday 2nd at 3pm and 8pm ET…

Tomorrow on Fox and Friends Weekend, former WBAL Meteorologist Domenica Davis will make her debut with the FNC Weather Team. Page Hopkins will be taking the center chair this weekend. And on Sunday Harris Faulkner will be on the 10am hour with Eric Shawn.

UPDATE: Obviously Davis didn’t debut this morning. Rick Reichmuth was on. Maybe tomorrow.

CORRECTION: I wrote the above too soon. Davis appeared at the end of the program.

YouTube has a video preview of the next episode of Business Nation airing next Wednesday, May 2nd, at 10pm ET…

Check out this clip of a scandalous vegetarian marshmallow. Who knew this existed? Weird…

TVNewser has a “CNN Insider” commenting on the Huff piece…

“This is what they’ve said about Katie Couric for years,” a CNN insider says. “Why are we talking about what she’s wearing anyway. She’s a great anchor and reporter. That’s what matters.”

I don’t usually talk about this aspect of cable news because there are other sites out there better suited for that sort of discussion but I’ll tell you why people are talking about it. Because CNN cameras are pointed in certain ways that’s why. If CNN doesn’t want people talking about legs and skirts and instead talking only about the talent’s abilities, don’t be doing wide shots away from the desk because you’re just inviting that sort of commentary when you do that. CNN is aware of this. It has to be. And yes, there’s a double standard between male anchors and female anchors on this score when ideally there shouldn’t be. Unfortunately that’s not the reality of the situation.

That said, in CNN’s defense I don’t see anything glaringly different between what CNN is doing with the cameras with Chetry and what it did when the O’Briens were on American Morning. So I don’t see why Huff is drawing a distinction here.

MSNBC’s release on the Debate numbers from last night (which are Live+SD so don’t be sending me comments or emails asking why these numbers don’t match the numbers I posted in the ratings entry below this one. They’re different sets of numbers so they won’t match.)…

MSNBC scored a huge ratings victory last evening with its presentation of the Democratic Candidates Debate, hosted by “NBC Nightly News” Anchor and Managing Editor Brian Williams. According to Nielsen Media Research Data, MSNBC won the 7:00 to 8:30 pm (ET) debate timeslot with 2,261,000 total viewers, putting it ahead of the cable news competition including CNN (500,000), Fox (1,789,000), and Headline News (411,000). MSNBC Also scored big in the adult demographic during the debate with 806,000 viewers, versus CNN (128,000), Fox (452,000) and Headline News (108,000).

A total of 1.18 million total viewers tuned to MSNBC during primetime (8:00-11:00 pm ET), putting the network in second place overall for the night, ahead of CNN (648,000) and Headline News (438,000). MSNBC won the Adult 25-54 demographic during primetime with 472,000 viewers, versus CNN (179,000), Fox (423,000) and Headline News (123,000)
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It’s too bad MSNBC can’t find a way to hold a Presidential debate several times a week. MSNBC’s Debate coverage provided a big spike for the network in the ratings. Of course someone had to suffer and that was CNN. This was typified by the meltdown of The Situation Room at 7 pm which came in with a meager 483,000 P2 rating as viewers flocked to MSNBC. FNC fared better with a respectable number with the Fox Report. Even the post debate period was a problem for the Turner channel as Larry King came in 3rd for his timeslot. MSNBC won the primtime Demo. MSNBC came in second in P2+. MSNBC also beat CNN in Total Day Demo.

However all was not rosy for MSNBC yesterday. The “Imus hole” is a very real problem in the morning. MSNBC came in fourth among cable news morning shows while CNN and HLN battled it out for second in the Demo.

Cable News Ratings for April 26, 2007

P2+ Total Day
FNC – 846,000 viewers
CNN – 430,000 viewers
MSNBC – 395,000 viewers
CNBC – 233,000 viewers
HLN – 246,000 viewers

P2+ Prime Time
FNC – 1,773,000 viewers
CNN – 644,000 viewers
MSNBC – 1,156,000 viewers
CNBC – 387,000 viewers
HLN – 436,000 viewers

25-54 Total Day
FNC – 268,000 viewers
CNN – 134,000 viewers
MSNBC –150,000 viewers
CNBC – 82,000 viewers
HLN – 112,000 viewers

25-54 Prime Time
FNC – 410,000 viewers
CNN – 179,000 viewers
MSNBC – 452,000 viewers
CNBC – 113,000 viewers
HLN – 123,000 viewers

Morning programs P2+ (25-54)
FOX & Friends – 762,000 viewers (361,000)
American Morning – 360,000 viewers (133,000)
MSNBC Live- 146,000 viewers (68,000)
Robin & Co. – 236,000 viewers (130,000)
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During Fox News Live, Pentagon Correspondent Jennifer Griffin had a live interview with Army General David Petraeus. Among the topics discussed was the public’s discontent with progress in Iraq:

I think everybody is impatient. I’m impatient, frustrated, disappointed. I think everyone shares that. I’ve talked about the Washington clock as really the American clock. It’s the coalition clock. Everyone would like to see this going faster, although everyone also knows historically and intuitively that this kind of endeavor has taken time in the past.

The Miami Herald’s Glenn Garvin wasn’t impressed with Bernard McGuirk’s appearance on Hannity & Colmes last night…

McGuirk not only predicted that his and Imus’ dismissal from CBS signals the end of free speech in America, he compared himself to Holocaust victims. “It’s like the off-quoted anti-Nazi German pastor who said, you know, first, they came for the Communists, but I wasn’t a Communist, so I didn’t say anything. Then they came for the Jews, but I’m not a Jew, I didn’t say anything. Then they came for the Catholics, but I’m a Protestant. Then when they came from me, there was nobody to speak,” McGuirk said, loudly, to drown out the sound of the German Lutheran minister Martin Niemoller spinning in his grave.

CNN announced its schedule for its delayed Larry King 50th Anniversary week…

Award-winning broadcaster Larry King marks his 50th anniversary in broadcasting with a weeklong celebration on Larry King Live and on CNN across all of its platforms, including on the air, online and on the radio. King kicks off the anniversary week with George Tenet, Oprah Winfrey, Katie Couric, Bill Maher and a two-hour special presentation, CNN Presents: Larry King – 50 Years of Pop Culture.

King’s career began in 1957 when he worked at a small radio station in Miami Beach, Fla., performing odd jobs. When an announcer suddenly quit, he was given his big break and offered a position as a disc jockey. Fifty years and 40,000 interviews later, King altered the face of broadcasting with his everyman touch. He has interviewed everyone from presidents and kings, celebrities and newsmakers and ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances. When King made the transition from his successful national radio talk show to cable, he helped pioneer the future of cable news programming and CNN.

As part of the weeklong anniversary celebration, King will host a few of his favorite guests during the week of April 30-May 4 on Larry King Live.
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TVNewser has the internal announcement that Alison Stewart is joining NPR…

CNN Observations has the details…

A serious fire has forced live programming from CNN’s London HQ, Turner House, to be suspended until further notice. The fire, above a clothing department store on the adjacent Oxford Road - London’s busiest shopping district - started just before 1900 bst (1800 gmt) Thursday. Half an hour later, World Business Today went on-air from the adjacent Turner House. However, this was quickly pulled off air as Atlanta took over live programming for the rest of the evening. Jim Clancy and Colleen McEdwards took turns with World Business Today, World News Europe and the evening edition of Business International.

The NY Daily News’ Richard Huff writes this about American Morning and one of its new anchors…

When CNN named Kiran Chetry as co-anchor of “American Morning,” CNN president Jon Klein said: “One look at her tells you why she deserves the slot. She’s a fantastic anchor. She lights up the screen. And she’s got a passion for news.”

Show producers are clearly playing up the looks part with Chetry, who favors short, short skirts that show off her long, long legs. Indeed, during an interview with Russell Simmons this week, camera angles seemed to shift to better show her gams.

Given the skirts and camera angles, it’s hard to get a real sense of that passion Klein mentioned.

The Salt Lake Tribune’s Rosemary Winters writes about the brisk ticket sales for the Sean Hannity/Rocky Anderson debate…

Well, at least 1,913 people want to see next week’s verbal sparring match between Sean Hannity and Rocky Anderson.

They snatched up every seat at the University of Utah’s Kingsbury Hall within two hours of tickets going on sale Thursday morning.

The debate is scheduled for May 4 at 8:30 p.m.

“I’m not surprised with how quickly [the tickets] went,” said Toby Collette, a member of the Associated Students of the University of Utah, which is hosting the event. “Fortunately, I didn’t have to wait in the incredibly long line” at Kingsbury Hall.

The Times Leader’s Steve Mocarsky writes about Lou Dobbs special in Hazleton next week…

CNN anchor Lou Dobbs and his crew will be in the Hazleton area on Wednesday to broadcast two live shows on immigration issues, and Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta will be a featured panelist.

CNN will first broadcast “Lou Dobbs Tonight” from 6 to 7 p.m. at the Penn State Hazleton campus. A live town meeting focusing on the impact of illegal immigration in the Hazleton area will follow, airing 8 to 9 p.m.

Barletta and the city garnered national attention and have remained in the spotlight ever since the mayor proposed and council passed the Illegal Immigration Relief Act last summer.

The AP has a story on Bernard McGuirk’s appearance last night on Hannity & Colmes…

McGuirk, in an interview on Fox News Channel’s “Hannity & Colmes,” said he “didn’t get the memo” that the phrase ‘hos’ had reached the level of the n-word in offensiveness. But apologies to the Rutgers team were appropriate, he said.

But McGuirk said he and Imus had engaged in the same locker-room humor for many years, and received pats on the back and raises from their superiors before CBS Radio fired them this time.

He sharply criticized the Rev. Al Sharpton, who led the campaign to get them fired.

“It seemed like he terrorized broadcast executives,” he said. “It seemed like they were in a fetal position under their desks sucking their thumbs on their Blackberrys, trying to coordinate their response.”

What’d you think?

Chris Wallace has been doing a few interviews lately. The latest was today in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel when Tim Cuprisin interviewed him about the “Democratic revolt” on the FNC debates…

“I’m not convinced that that they’re not going to appear at the Congressional Black Caucus debate,” Wallace said. “I don’t think that the final chapter on that has been written.”

But he’s surprised that the media’s not outraged by what he describes as presidential candidates playing to the extreme left in their party.

“How would the mainstream media react . . . if right-wing Republican groups were insisting that Republicans couldn’t . . . do a debate with The New York Times or MSNBC. They’d view it as selling out to the right-wing nuts.”

MSNBC.com has put up a page to rate the candidates for tonight’s debate. (via Eat The Press)

The AP has a story on FNC’s participation in the South Carolina debate…(via TVNewser)

Fox News will have a say in deciding which Republican presidential candidates participate in next month’s debate in South Carolina.

State Party chairman Katon Dawson and a spokesman for the news channel said Thursday that they had agreed on a criteria, including polling numbers, for choosing which of the 10 GOP candidates will take part in the May 15 debate.

‘’We understand there’s not room for everybody on a nationwide political stage for a Republican debate,'’ Dawson said.

Marty Ryan, executive producer of political programming for Fox News Channel, said the polling criteria would ensure ‘’that serious candidates were taking part in our debate.'’

UPDATE: The use of polling is not unusual for debates. The Commission on Presidential Debates has used polling as well for debate criteria.

The CPD’s third criterion requires that the candidate have a level of support of at least 15% (fifteen percent) of the national electorate as determined by five selected national public opinion polling organizations, using the average of those organizations’ most recent publicly reported results at the time of the determination.