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Cable News Wars
Behind the Battle for Cable News Viewers -- March 2002
Cable Competition Extended Interviews
It's the electronic version of an old-fashioned newspaper circulation war, with the nation's three all-news cable channels locked in a competition for viewers. Terence Smith surveys the battle lines. (3/5/02)
Brit Hume: Fox News Channel's Washington managing editor and chief Washington correspondent discusses his network's evolution and its recent rise in the ratings.
Walter Isaacson: The chairman and CEO of CNN News Group discusses his network's role in the past, present and future of cable news.
Gail Shister: The television columnist for The Philadelphia Inquirer gives her take on the continuing battle for cable news viewers.
Andrew Tyndall: The publisher of The Tyndall Report, a newsletter that monitors television news, discusses his organization's NewsHour-commissioned study of cable news network content.
Content Analysis
The results of a NewsHour-commissioned study on the content of the three all-news cable networks. Analysis by ADT Research. (March 2002)
Network Background
CNN Fox News Channel MSNBC
 

Premiere:
June 1981

Parent:
AOL Time Warner

Availability:
86 million U.S. cable homes

Ratings:
Jan. 2002: Avg. 921,000 primetime viewers

Up 21 percent since Jan. 2001

Feb. 2002: Avg. 785,000 primetime viewers

  

Premiere:
October 1996

Parent:
News Corp.

Availability:
78 million U.S. cable homes

Ratings:
Jan. 2002: Avg. 1,091,000 primetime viewers

Up 79 percent since Jan. 2001

Feb. 2002: Avg. 1,108,000 primetime viewers

  

Premiere:
July 1996

Parent: NBC/Microsoft

Availability:
70 million U.S. cable homes

Ratings:
Jan. 2002: Avg. 358,000 primetime viewers

Up 3 percent since Jan. 2001

Feb. 2002: Avg. 302,000 primetime viewers

  

(Sources: Electronic Media, The New York Times, Nielsen Media Research)




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Pew Charitable Trusts

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