Cable News Daily Ratings for August 6, 2007

P2+ Total Day
FNC – 816,000 viewers
CNN – 507,000 viewers
MSNBC – 300,000 viewers
CNBC – 224,000 viewers
HLN – 209,000 viewers

P2+ Prime Time
FNC – 1,556,000 viewers
CNN – 895,000 viewers
MSNBC – 510,000 viewers
CNBC – 167,000 viewers
HLN – 349,000 viewers

25-54 Total Day
FNC – 239,000 viewers
CNN –171,000 viewers
MSNBC – 111,000 viewers
CNBC – 81,000 viewers
HLN – 80,000 viewers

25-54 Prime Time
FNC – 332,000 viewers
CNN – 233,000 viewers
MSNBC – 174,000 viewers
CNBC – 64,000 viewers
HLN – 127,000 viewers

Morning programs P2+ (25-54)
FOX & Friends –833,000 viewers (288,000)
American Morning – 336,000 viewers (134,000)
MSNBC Live (7-9am) – 248,000 viewers (97,000)
Robin & Co. – 162,000 viewers (79,000)
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The Fox Report with Shepard Smith made the top 40 programs in all of Cable last week – it came in at #27 – when it br0ke the news of the Minneapolis bridge collapse…
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For those who watched it, post your reactions to MSNBC’s broadcast of the AFL-CIO Forum moderated by Keith Olbermann…

I didn’t directly catch on to this this morning when I posted this alert but CNBC announcd that it changed the name of its program “Morning Call” to just “The Call”…

EFFECTIVE IMMMEDIATELY, CNBC’S WEEKDAY 11AM-12PM SHOW FORMERLY KNOWN AS “MORNING CALL” IS NOW “THE CALL”.

There’s something not generally known about MSNBC’s move to 30 Rock: what it means for CNBC’s and MSNBC’s operations.

For those out there who don’t know what a master control is or its importance to a cable news channel, Wikipedia provides a long definition but these two paragraphs describe it in a nutshell:

Master control is the technical hub of a broadcast operation common among most over-the-air television stations and networks. It is distinct from production control rooms in television studios where the activities such as switching from camera to camera are coordinated.

Master control is the final point before a signal is transmitted over-the-air or sent on to a cable television operator or satellite provider for broadcast. Television master control rooms include banks of video monitors, satellite receivers, videotape machines, transmission equipment, and, more recently, computer broadcast automation equipment for recording and playback of on-air programming.

With networks like CNBC and MSNBC, master control also monitors the return signal from satellite providers DirecTV and Echostar as well as cable providers like Comcast. Additionally, in CNBC’s case, master control handles the ticker and network bug.
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CNN announced this afternoon that it will premiere “CNN: Special Investigations Unit - Growing Up Diana” with Soledad O’Brien on Saturday, August 25th at 8pm ET…

As the 10th anniversary of Princess Diana’s tragic death approaches, CNN’s Soledad O’Brien reports an intimate portrait of the early years of the Princess of Wales. CNN: Special Investigations Unit - Growing Up Diana begins with her years growing up in the shadow of royalty and ends as her marriage approached troubled times, almost as it began. Growing Up Diana premieres on Tuesday, Aug. 21, at 8 p.m., and replays on Saturday, Aug. 25, and Sunday, Aug. 26, at 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. All times Eastern.

O’Brien takes viewers on location to explore Diana’s childhood home, the place where she met Prince Charles, and the roots of her insecurities – all revealed through the words of people who knew her first hand, some of whom have never spoken previously.
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GretaWire blogs about whether to go to Utah to cover the mine collapse or not…

I am trying to decide whether to go to Utah or not. At the moment I think it is unnecessary since I am not sure what information we could get for you by going. We don’t want to go to a story to simply get a backdrop. We go to find some additional information that we would not otherwise get and speak in person to witnesses to events/potential guests. Not all stories are such that going improves the reporting. Using our correspondents on the ground is effective to get you the complete story.

This coal mining story differs from the bridge collapse since with the bridge collapse story we could at least find ourselves a helicopter and go up and take some video of the bridge for you so that you could be closer to the story and could see more. When you can see more, you (and we) could better understand what happened. Obviously an underground mine does not provide that opportunity.

I am struggling trying to decide what I could achieve for you by going to Utah. Bottom line: I will decide in the next few hours and may even wait until tomorrow. This may be one of those stories where going won’t help our reporting… stay tuned.

After watching Fox and Friends weekend hint that this was coming, but no date announced, ICN has learned that next week FNC will air a half hour special broadcast of “The 1/2 Hour News Hour” on Thursday, August 16th at 9pm ET. This will be followed by a half hour edition of Hannity & Colmes.

Cable News Ratings August 4, 2007

P2+ Total Day
FNC – 650,000 viewers
CNN – 464,000 viewers
MSNBC – 333,000 viewers
CNBC – 159,000 viewers
HLN – 254,000 viewers

P2+ Prime Time
FNC – 718,000 viewers
CNN – 550,000 viewers
MSNBC – 413,000 viewers
CNBC – 199,000 viewers
HLN – 232,000 viewers

25-54 Total Day
FNC – 202,000 viewers
CNN – 202,000 viewers
MSNBC –147,000 viewers
CNBC – 65,000 viewers
HLN –98,000 viewers

25-54 Prime Time
FNC – 198,000 viewers
CNN – 198,000 viewers
MSNBC – 179,000 viewers
CNBC – 75,000 viewers
HLN – 71,000 viewers

Cable News Ratings for August 5, 2007
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CNBC announced that Hillary Clinton will be appearing on CNBC’s “The Call” today at 11:30am ET…

CNBC MEDIA ALERT: CNBC EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: SENATOR HILLARY CLINTON TO BE INTERVIEWED ON CNBC’S “THE CALL” TODAY AT 11:30 AM ET

Broadcasting & Cable’s John Eggerton writes about MSNBC.com’s web traffic in the wake of the Minneapolis bridge collapse…

The news network got more than 82 million page views for its coverage, which included a slide show (26 million views alone), and more than 11 million accesses of video streams.

The network also created a national, interactive map of “structurally deficient” and “functionally obsolete” bridges.”

FNC’s Megyn Kelly is reporting on the coal mine collapse story from Utah this morning on America’s Newsroom.

UPDATE: Correspondents Alicia Acuna and Casey Steigel will be reporting from the scene today. Trace Gallagher will be on location to host Fox Report.

UPDATE 2: During America’s Newsroom Megyn Kelly had an interview with Julie Jones, mother of one of the miners involved in the rescue efforts.
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TV Guide’s Anthony Layser has an interview with Keith Olbermann in conjunction with tonight’s AFL-CIO forum which he is moderating…

TVGuide.com: What was your first reaction when they asked you to take the reigns of this thing?

Keith Olbermann: “Yes, I’ll do it,” was my first reaction. It’s not something I’ve done before. It’s a little different from my experiences with news coverage, but you can’t miss an opportunity like this. I think it’s also the price — and I mean this in a positive light — of putting myself in the political arena with my commentaries. The authenticity of those commentaries is, in some respects, achieved by doing things like this, and involving myself in the political process in a way that’s hands-on.

TVGuide.com: This is an AFL-CIO sponsored forum. As the moderator, will you be focusing the conversation on predominantly union-related issues?

Olbermann: There will be a lot of that. As I understand it, we’re working off of three half-hour blocks. In the middle half hour, nearly all the questions will be directed from the audience, which will be predominantly AFL-CIO membership.

The LA Times’ Paul Brownfield fawningly profiles Keith Olbermann…

More than any other news show on cable, MSNBC’s “Countdown With Keith Olbermann” is us.

This has less to do with the host than the format, which is all about ranking things and listing things, prioritizing information in the way we’ve become acclimated to consume it: as somebody’s — anybody’s — best-of.

Olbermann, the host of “Countdown” since its inception in 2003, tonight moderates a Democratic presidential debate in Chicago sponsored by the AFL-CIO amid a year of improved ratings for “Countdown” that has seen one of its competition (no, not Bill O’Reilly, but CNN’s Paula Zahn) drummed out of the race.

Perhaps not coincidentally, the former sports guy comes from a world of list-obsession plays of the day, players of the year and teams of the decade. Five years after his last full-time sports gig at Fox Sports Net, Olbermann has come to symbolize the quirky omniscience that broadcast news might very well demand in the future.

But it’s the structure of “Countdown,” which averaged 721,000 viewers in July, a bump for the show, that seems so savant-like.

Reese blogs about the July numbers. I’m not sure how Schonfeld came up with these percentages though…

Thanks to Cynthia and Cynopsis, we’ve been graced with the July cable ratings and this time, they’re a WOW! Year-to-year, NBC has made enormous gains particularly in primetime. Headline News has done well and Fox and CNN have nose-dived. Fox total audience market share is down 6% in primetime, CNN is down 4%. MSNBC’s up 7%, Headline 3%. The demos have gone similarly.

In total day, both Fox and CNN are down 4%, MSNBC is up 5% and Headline 3%. Again the demographics follow. In Adults 25-54 Fox and CNN have lost 10% between them, MSNBC gained 6%, Headline News 4%. CNN has taken first action– Zahn is already gone. What Fox will do, I have no idea; maybe Ailes will have to go back to work there full-time.

Johnny Dollar has the audio of John Gibson, from his radio program, ridiculing Keith Olbermann and MSNBC for allowing him to moderate the AFL-CIO forum…