Fox News Channel
By Multi Channel News Staff -- Multichannel News, 1/28/2001 5:00:00 PM MT
NEW YORK -Fox News Channel's coverage of President Bush's Inauguration Day swearing-in and speech beat Cable NewsNetwork in the ratings, FNC officials said last week.
During the ceremony, FNC garnered a 3.1 rating and reached 1.8 million households, compared with CNN's 2.6 rating, or 2.1 million homes; and MSNBC's 1.9 rating, or 1.2 million homes, according to Nielsen Media Research data supplied by FNC.
FNC posted a 2.5 rating, or 1.4 million homes, for its Saturday, Jan. 20 inaugural coverage from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. That's compared to CNN's 2.0 rating, or 1.6 million homes. MSNBC finished a distant third, with a 1.6 rating, or 954,000 homes.
For total-day Saturday, FNC achieved its largest single 24-hour average audience since its launch in terms of both ratings and households, with a 1.3 rating and 740,000 homes. That beat CNN's 1.2 rating, or 996,000 homes, and MSNBC's 1.0, or 552,000 homes.
Despite the increased competition from FNC and MSNBC, CNN said ratings for its Inauguration Day coverage-from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. were up compared with 1997. Four years ago, CNN posted a 1.8 rating, or 1.3 million homes, compared with this year's 2.1 rating, or 1.7 million homes.
