Who's on first? (Fast Track).(Fox News Channel, NBC, and CNN television ratings)(Brief Article)

Broadcasting & Cable, February, 2003

FOX NEWS CHANNEL crowed that it outdistanced CNN'S coverage of the president's State of the Union speech last week by 2.3 million viewers. Fox News registered 5.9 million viewers and a 4.6 rating, compared with 3.6 million and a 2.8 rating for CNN. MSNBC trailed with 960,000 viewers and a 1.0 rating.

But, as broadcast networks like to point out, even the least of them drew a far bigger audience than cable news combined. Altogether, NBC scored a 10.2 rating/15 share, with 16.4 million viewers, ABC had an 8.7/13, with 13.5 million viewers, CBS had a 7.6/11 with 11.8 million viewers and FOX BROADCASTING had a 5.5/8 with 9.5 million viewers. We report. You decide.