Cable News Fact Sheet (2024)

FAQs

What is the #1 news channel in the USA? ›

As some of the most widely available channels, Fox News, CNN, and MSNBC are often referred to as the "big three" with Fox News having the highest viewership and ratings.

Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news channel and website operating from Midtown Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the Manhattan-based media conglomerate Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), CNN ...

It is claimed that the first cable television system in the United States was created in 1948 in Mahanoy City, Pennsylvania by John Walson to provide television signals to people whose reception was poor because of tall mountains and buildings blocking TV signals.

Among adults 25-54, CNN ranked in the Top 10 among all cable networks for the quarter. Further, CNN reached the most viewers in cable news in Q1 2024 among both P2+ and P25-54 (P2+: CNN: 44.0m, Fox News: 43.4m, MSNBC: 34.9m; P25-54: CNN: 11.6m, Fox News: 10.6m, MSNBC: 8.8m).

Even with the additions to the group of outlets polled about, The Weather Channel remains the most trusted news source among Americans overall.

FOX NEWS CHANNEL OCCUPIES NEARLY ALL OF THE TOP 100 CABLE NEWS TELECASTS THROUGHOUT MAY. NEW YORK – May 29, 2024 – FOX News Channel (FNC) finished the month of May as the highest-rated cable news network, sweeping CNN and MSNBC in all categories during the month of former President Donald Trump's hush money trial.

1 evening newscast on U.S. TV, both in average total viewers ( 8.1 million) and among adults 25-54 ( 1.29 million). That's now seven consecutive seasons that WNT has been America's most-watched evening newscast. NBC Nightly News had won the previous 20 seasons.

On Sunday mornings, the networks air political interview programs. Meet the Press (which premiered November 6, 1947 on the NBC television network and is currently the world's longest running television program) leads Face the Nation on CBS, This Week on ABC, and Fox News Sunday on the Fox network.

Originally called “community antenna television,” cable TV had been around almost as long as television itself. In its early days, it had been available almost exclusively in communities in which geographic conditions made television reception difficult.

Golden Age of Cable: In the early 2010s the cable television industry was in its zenith. In October 2010, over 105 million U.S. TV households were pay-TV subscribers, a penetration of over 90% of TV homes.

Is cable TV becoming obsolete? ›

All that being said, there is no doubt that cable television is losing its appeal. The number of U.S. households that subscribe to cable TV went from around 47% in 2019 to 42% in 2022. All things considered, this trend is not stopping anytime soon.

Beginning in 2013, cable TV started experiencing a loss of subscribers, and that loss grew wider in 2014. 1 A combination of lower TV viewership because of fewer cable subscribers and other media supplanting cable has the industry at a crossroads.

Comcast Corporation has more Pay TV subscribers than any other provider, with 17.5 million pay TV subscribers as of December 2021.

Fox News swept the top five daily show rankings this year. The Five was the most watched show, averaging 2.89 million viewers, followed by Jesse Watters Primetime with 2.49 million, Hannity with 2.36 million, Special Report with Bret Baier at 2.07 million and The Ingraham Angle with 1.96 million.

Among those several dozen high-profile names, Lester Holt, who has held the NBC Nightly News chair for nine years, has the highest share of respondents, 65 percent, saying they placed “a lot” or “some” trust in the anchor, leading the poll.