Fox News Channel notched its highest numbers in the history of the network during last night's State of the Union Address.... The network earned its largest audience ever for a single telecast with its post-analysis of the address, averaging 5.9 million viewers from 10:06-10:15pm ET...

CABLE NEWS RATINGS FOR BUSH SPEECH:

*FOX NEWS 4.6 SHARE

CNN 2.8

MSNBC 1.0


and remember, CNN is in more homes than Fox News is.

Holy Cow!!!

was that their 9 minutes of fame?

I love to see Fox News destroy CNN in the ratings.

Am I the only Conservative who thinks Fox News is a little too extreme? I find it hard to watch them most of the time.

Mordred

I'm not even a conservative, I'm a libertarian. I just love to see CNN get their arrogant liberal asses whipped.

I like to watch a little of each, get both points of views. I think that is why I like Hannity and Colmes so much, because you are able to get both points of views a lot, even if Hannity talks louder then anybody on that show.

I wonder if this includes the ratings from the FOX channel itself which ran off of FOX News' feed> Also here in Phoenix, the local UPN affiliate was using the FOX News feed as well.

Exactly.

Conservatives watch these channels and programs more than non-conservatives. The rest of us go see movies, watch ED, and can't listen to Sean ("fair and balanced") Hannity call everyone who who doesn't agree with him evil night after night.

Fox News has been the tops in overall ratings for about a year. Its nothing new.

There was an article in the paper today about the one year anniversary of Fox News beating them and the panic they are in trying to get viewers back.

Im a liberal and for some reason I am hooked on Fox News. I do think it is funny that Bill O Reilly claims to be an "independent". I used to be a fan of his show but lately he is just getting on my nerves.

I know. The guy is a pysudo- conservative, he's one notch over Colmes in how liberal he really is.

Eventhough I love FoxNews. CNN, see ya baby!

Does it really matter which network scores more viewers during the speech. There are no commercial breaks during the speech.

By the way, I'm not surprised that FNC scored more viewers. I would think a lot more Republicans watch the SOTU when there is a Republican President. Obviously, Republican viewers go to FNC for their news.

One thing is for sure, both FNC and CNN are over the prospect of war, especially if it starts during February sweeps. The way they both hype up small little stories related to the War on Terror (not to mention their banners with huge fonts saying "War on Terror" and "Axis of Evil" ) almost looks like they enjoy that these things are happening.

I watched it on CSpan. I don't need some network talking head telling me their interpretation what I'm hearing.

CNN is in 87 million homes.
Fox News is in 82 million.

When you're in that many homes, 5 million is negligible.

Bragging rights only. "More people get their news from Fox News" or something like that. The broadcast networks don't even bother with ratings for programming like SOTU, though I'm sure more people watched NBC than CNN & FOX News combined.

Absolutely. If and when a Democrat gets back in the White House, CNN will most likely overtake FOX News in the ratings battle. Until then....

Another thing, I think it's really interesting how viewers have an almost partisan relationship with cable news channels: Generallly Democrats going to CNN and Republicans supporting FOX News.

I remember during the last SOTU Address, the highest-rated program on cable that week was the SOTU telecast on Fox News, but the exact same SOTU address broadcast on CNN wasn't even in the Top 20.

Which means that non-conservatives watch other channels and programs more than conservatives... which means... what, exactly? Hey, I watch Fox, and I watch movies and Ed.

CNN shows News? I thought they just showed interview and call in shows and Larry King

I know.

I probably should watch more CNN to conform to my political beliefs, but every time I turn it on, it's some "specialty" show. I find I watch MSNBC a lot although they too often show news-magazine crap also.

I really loathe Fox News's slant, but I end up watching it a lot because they actually have news shows rather than all the fluff the other networks show.

And it's good for a laugh hwne they say something really slanted and then say "We report, you decide."

I'm still laughing over the time they were doing an upcoming story about John Walker Lindh and before the commercial break the announcer said "Should John Walker Lindh even GET a trial?"

It's just so ridiculous sometimes.

I rarely watch CNN anymore, because it is so slanted to the liberal side. Fox, while slanted a bit conservative, will still allow smart but non-apoplectic liberals on TV for reasoned debate.

Bill O'Reilly isn't exactly conservative. He comes out very populist at times. For instance, he likes to gripe about SUVs all the time, not a conservative view (conservative: let the market decide what people drive). I can only watch his show in small doses before he grates my last nerve, though.

Brit Hume is great, though. I take him over all the other main anchors on any of the channels, cable or network.

I think FOX is way more right of center than CNN is left of center.

I'm a Liberal (Gore Got More!) but I always watch FOX News because it's entertaining. CNN is just boring! jeez, when did the right become more hip and cool then the left? something is wrong. CNN needs a complete make-over, it's just dull and uninteresting. I love when FOX breaks to news like car chases and buildings on fire!

I guess that I am one of the few who likes MSNBC. i thought that they were more competitive than that. Fox is okay, I like O'Reilly. But CNN is just a complete bore fest. Can you be any more dull? For these broadcasts I usually just flip through the channels and see who has the best picture.

edit to add: not that I'm picky with my newscast picture quality...

I'm not IN ANY WAY trying to argue but really disagree.

As another member commented, Fox is far more to the right than CNN is to the left. That might not have been the case in the past, but, while I don't watch a ton of these shows, I have noticed that far more of CNN's anchors/reporters/moderators/etc are really hard to read. Meaning I, personally, can't tell which ones are probably Dems and which are probably Republicans like I used to. Which is a good thing. The problem, as you stated, is that there is no charisma to be found there. It is boring, boring, boring. But still far more "fair and balanced" I think than Fox.

O'Reilly is an entertainer and what annoys me most is that he doesn't admit it and acts like he's the most serious journalist on the face of the earth. He does good things, but the hostility and the arrogance is too much. For the record, I don't believe for a second that O'Reilly is not a conservative. He may be a moderate conservative and even have some agreements with liberals and democrats, but he's not fooling me that he's anywhere close to being an independant. Also, he's not against SUVs, really, his stance is that while not good they should get a minimum of 20 MPH. That's not exactly the liberal view on the issue. He's much closer to the market driven view the conservatives have. He simply has the charisma others lack and he plays perfectly to his mostly conservative audience (I bet it's at least 70/30) while chirping that he's not one of them to keep from losing the liberals that do tune in. He's done a materful job of marketing himself. No one else is close.

I still maintain that conservatives watch political "analysis" shows like O'Reilly's in larger numbers anyway. I don't see Fox news falling much in the near future.

Oh, and about Fox letting the liberal point of view be represented. Please. By who, the Beltway Boys? Neil "Buy stocks no matter cause I say so" Cavuto? Or that Combs guy who does the show with Sean Hannity? That Hannity is the only guy on TV that I despise, I think he's a hater, and they give us this Combs guy who couldn't be more dorkier and doesn't give Hannity a good debate on the issues ever. At least on Crossfire they usually have 2 fairly even people from both sides to debate the issues. I think all the networks let liberal, conservatives and other political views on to debate issues as guests. But the hosts of the Fox shows couldn't be more obviously conservative. Except maybe for Greta. I can't read whether she's liberal or conservative. But I do like Greta's new face, though.

I agree, dolphinboy.

It seems like Fox News deliberately found the dorkiest liberal in Alan Colmes. I can just see the conservatives watching the show thinking "Look! He's even cross-eyed! I knew those liberals couldn't see straight!"

And Alan Colmes, despite being a liberal, is 100% more balanced than Hannity. When Colmes asks questions of people he disagress with, he is very diplomatic. Whereas Hannity comes out and practically yells at the people he is "questioning" and tells them how wrong they are. I really hate that guy. I can watch O'Reilly, because he is entertaining, but Hannity is just a little bitch. I want to slap him.

I like many of the MSNBC shows, like Hardball with Chris Matthews, and the News with Brian Williams. I also like Ashleigh Banfield.

I'm with you man I watch almost exclusively msnbc, and being at the tail end of what would be the younger generation. I should watch fox, but I can't I am just annoyed usually.