FNC “Is Showing Serious Signs Of Aging”

> Update: 3:26pm: Decide for yourself: Here are the YTD ratings for all the cable nets versus 2005…

“Fox News is showing serious signs of aging,” Media Life concludes.

FNC’s total audience “fell 24 percent in the past year, to 1.3 million viewers from 1.7 million, and its key primetime audience, viewers ages 25-54, was down 7 percent in October on a year-to-year basis.”

SVP Bill Shine blames the declines to a soft news year, saying “2005 was an incredible year for news compared to 2006.”

“But Fox’s problems go deeper than that. If it was just the dearth of big stories this year, all the other cable networks would be down as well. Two were actually up in October,” Kevin Downey notes…

> Update: 1:32pm: An insider says Fox’s “moment” is over: “From the time when Clinton said that he did ‘have sexual relations with that woman’ to the time when Bush stood on the aircraft carrier with the ‘Mission Accomplished’ banner behind him, that was Fox’s moment. They milked and milked and milked it and they rode the wave of patriotism and fear and now the mood of the country is going in a different direction, and that’s what they’re feeling. Now they look flat-footed and stale.”

> Update: 1:45pm: An e-mailer asks: “Isn’t this the same out of the loop reporter who said CNN was ‘closing the gap’ on Fox News back in April 2003?…”