Tuesday morning all three of the general cable news channels carried live and uninterrupted testimony of the Parliamentary hearings involving News Corp. and its CEO, Rupert Murdoch. From a little after 9:30 AM ET til just after 12:30 PM ET, all three channels were essentially commercial and anchor-free, as they carried the testimony. All three also carried live testimony from former News of the World editor Rebekah Brooks in the early afternoon.
Murdoch can take solace in knowing that the cable news channel News Corp. owns, Fox News, was the highest-rated during the hearing in both total and demo viewers. CNN placed second every hour except for 9-10 AM AM, and in the demo at 12-1 PM.
How are the ratings in perspective?
CNN and MSNBC were mostly flat compared to Monday, though CNN saw a slight ratings bump in the 12 and 1 PM hours. FNC was down in both total and demo viewers compared to Monday.
Compared to the previous Tuesday (July 12), MSNBC was up almost across the board during those hours, FNC was down almost across the board during those hours, and CNN was mixed, with some hours up and some hours down.
From 9-10 AM
FNC-1.118M total viewers, 245K demo viewers (from 9:35-10)
MSNBC-477K total viewers, 149K demo viewers
CNN-398K total viewers, 130K demo viewers
From 10-11 AM
FNC-883KM total viewers, 154K demo viewers
CNN-426K total viewers, 116K demo viewers
MSNBC-369K total viewers, 100K demo viewers
From 11 AM- 12 PM
FNC-712K total viewers, 189K demo viewers
CNN-353K total viewers, 180K demo viewers
MSNBC-312K total viewers, 98K demo viewers
From 12-1 PM
FNC-770K total viewers, 189K demo viewers
CNN-552K total viewers, 139K demo viewers
MSNBC-409K total viewers, 140K demo viewers
From 1-2 PM
FNC-618K total viewers, 144K demo viewers (from 1:00 to 1:31)
CNN-595K total viewers, 137K demo viewers
MSNBC-352K total viewers, 101K demo viewers