No Bull Mom

The Success of FOX

Below is the latest news re FOX News:

Fox News a Bright Spot in Bleak News Corp. Earnings Report

News Corp. reported full year adjusted operating income of $3.6 billion, a 32.5% fiscal-year drop. For Q4, the media conglomerate posted a loss of $203 million, compared with earnings of $1.1 billion a year ago.

Chairman Rupert Murdoch singled out the success of Fox News Channel in his release:

The FOX News Channel (FNC) operating income, as compared to the prior year, increased 50% for both the fourth quarter and the full year, primarily from increased affiliate revenues. For the full year, FNC primetime ratings were up 45% compared with the same period a year ago.

And Fox News continues on a ratings tear this week. On Monday night and again last night, FNC beat the combined prime time averages, in both Total Viewers & A25-54 viewers, of MSNBC and CNN.

In fact last night, "The O'Reilly Factor" (on cable TV) averaged 3.67 million Total Viewers at 8pmET topping the 8pm average of 2.91M on ABC (on broadcast TV), with "Superstars."

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I should add, before I say anything else, that I'm not a FOX freak. There are no shows that I TIVO or "must see," nor do I base my opinions around what FOX News says and does. When I do tune in to television, however, it tends to be FOX. But I flip around first. I usually land there, or on CNN (since it's trying to redeem itself) because I can get information there that I can't get elsewhere. That's really it in a nutshell. I don't worry about the bias that does or doesn't exist -- for two reasons. One, it's only biased if you're watching certain shows. Glenn Beck is, admittedly, biased. But he's supposed to be...it's not a straight news program like Campbell Brown's is, for example.

I like O'Reilly's program, to some extent. But his arrogance is annoying...as is the shouting. I think you can be just as effective in proving your knowledge and outrage without shouting quite that loud. But I do find it entertaining...and again, I learn about things I otherwise might not.

Clearly I'm not alone. FOX News has been successful for a reason, and one of these days the mainstream networks will have to face the music.