Fox News Ratings Plunge After Dish Network Blackout

[chiodo]

Fox News is down to 939,000 prime-time viewers from 1.65 million the week before after a dispute with Dish Network took them off the satellite carrier – though even with that, they still got more viewers than CNN and MSNBC… combined.

More Info here:

http://www.ibtimes.com/dish-network...-hit-nasty-carriage-dispute-continues-1771328

- Mods feel free to close this tread before it gets out of hand.

 

[Dah-Henny]

At least we now know how many Dish subs watch FNC.

 

[king3pj]

Fox News is down to 939,000 prime-time viewers from 1.65 million the week before after a dispute with Dish Network took them off the satellite carrier – though even with that, they still got more viewers than CNN and MSNBC… combined.

More Info here:

http://www.ibtimes.com/dish-network...-hit-nasty-carriage-dispute-continues-1771328

- Mods feel free to close this tread before it gets out of hand.

You showed the big week before number but left out Christmas week's number from last year, which was 1.06 million. That's still a drop that could be tied to the loss of Dish customers but it's a much smaller drop.

There is a reason none of the networks show new episodes during Christmas week. People are out at holiday parties or traveling to see friends and family instead of watching tv. I would bet that just about every channel that didn't have some kind of big event saw a ratings drop last week.

 

[TNGTony]

Keep it about the numbers, the situation with Dish and the thread stays open. Veer into politics or the worthiness of the station to exist and the thread will be closed. This is the 5th thread on the channel and we REALLY don't like to close them.

 

[Papa47]

Fox News is down to 939,000 prime-time viewers from 1.65 million the week before after a dispute with Dish Network took them off the satellite carrier – though even with that, they still got more viewers than CNN and MSNBC… combined.

More Info here:

http://www.ibtimes.com/dish-network...-hit-nasty-carriage-dispute-continues-1771328

- Mods feel free to close this tread before it gets out of hand.

I would imagine they will be alright in a week or so, as soon as enough people get switched to other providers.

 

[dangue]

There is a more relevant portion of the article to quote when trying to convey a more accurate picture:

Viewership for news programming is often unpredictable from week to week, and Christmas week tends to be a slow news period. But Fox’s prime-time ratings are down almost 12 percent when compared to the same week last year, when it averaged 1.06 million viewers. That makes sense: Dish Network has a market share of about 13.4 percent of the pay-TV industry.

Seems like the majority of the week over week drop is likely attributable to the holiday week rather than the dispute.

 

[TNGTony]

Overall ratings drop like a rock during the weeks of Christmas and New Years. Most viewers are traveling, or at least with family and friends rather than watching TV. The only programming that gets ratings this week are bowl games. But even they have suffered ratings drops over previous years due to the sheer number of them diluting the finite audience.

 

[Deadlocked]

At least we now know how many Dish subs watch FNC.

"Millions"


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[jerryez]

All four of the networks only show reruns from Christmas to New Years. So, no wonder the viewers are down. Of course, most of the other channels are reruns 100% of the time.

 

[Yespage]

Nothing worth than reruns on a News Channel.

"Today Obama announced improvements to the ACA website..."
Meh... seen it.

 

[Brussam]

As the article stated, there was a comparison from the previous year which compensates for the Holiday period.

 

[Scherrman]

I'd have to think the majority of live TV being watched over the holidays is sports. Otherwise everyone is too busy with family and friends. I know I never really watched anything other than football, basketball and some movies I had recorded.... OH, and A Christmas Story on TBS.

 

[bobvick]

If those numbers are strictly because of the blackout I.E due all to Dish, 711,000 Dish customers watched Fox News on a regular basis, that would work out to about 5.07% of Dish's customer base.

 

[JimWH]

If those numbers are strictly because of the blackout I.E due all to Dish, 711,000 Dish customers watched Fox News on a regular basis, that would work out to about 5.07% of Dish's customer base.

It is not just how many. It is also who the viewers are. It would be interesting to know the sort of packages FOX fans have and other demographic info. From what I've read I get the impression that many Fox viewers are real fans and are quite prepared to go elsewhere if this is not resolved soon.

 

[toricred]

Unfortunately that's true. We were talking with my Father-In-Law yesterday and he was preparing to change providers over Fox. He had totally bought in to Fox's statement that mean old Dish was blocking them. We talked him down by explaining the other side of the story. We are big fans of FNC, but this isn't worth a change in providers. We've been with other providers and in the end the equipment just doesn't come close. I am beginning to try to find some other way to get FNC though. Maybe a Roku or basic subscription to the local cable just to get FNC.

 

[landon56]

I just got a notice from Dish that they are crediting my account for $50 because of the black out of Fox. Now if that just happens every month it will be a okay.

 

[PortlandChris]

It is not just how many. It is also who the viewers are. It would be interesting to know the sort of packages FOX fans have and other demographic info. From what I've read I get the impression that many Fox viewers are real fans and are quite prepared to go elsewhere if this is not resolved soon.

A lot of people always complain. Very few people actually act on the threat of changing providers. Complicating the mix is many viewers are on contract and they cannot change. Plus there is a hassle factor with it. And as we age we lose tolerance for learning new things on remotes, etc, on how to control the technology. No doubt, some will switch. But in reality this is about forced bundling with other Fox channels. If Dish caves our rates go up. Dish knows that fees getting to $100 a month is a breaking point for many viewers.

I have to wonder why the CNN issue was suddenly resolved.....if this was part of a master plan Dish couldn't be down two news channels.

 

[ChadT41]

A lot of people always complain. Very few people actually act on the threat of changing providers. Complicating the mix is many viewers are on contract and they cannot change. Plus there is a hassle factor with it. And as we age we lose tolerance for learning new things on remotes, etc, on how to control the technology. No doubt, some will switch. But in reality this is about forced bundling with other Fox channels. If Dish caves our rates go up. Dish knows that fees getting to $100 a month is a breaking point for many viewers.

I have to wonder why the CNN issue was suddenly resolved.....if this was part of a master plan Dish couldn't be down two news channels.

To look at it from a terrible business perspective.... They could say they were not playing politics and decided to negotiate hard on a liberal left, and hard wing right news channels. That would create interesting results amongst Americans.

 

[MikeD-C05]

Cnn was resolved because no one watches that channel and they simply couldn't ask more money for it. The nightly ratings during primetime show that. Worse than Cnn in the ratings is now MSNBC. I agree that when this generation of cable tv viewers dies out , so will cable news stations.

 

[GaryPen]

To look at it from a terrible business perspective.... They could say they were not playing politics and decided to negotiate hard on a liberal left, and hard wing right news channels. That would create interesting results amongst Americans.

Was there a recent negotiation with MSNBC, as well? I don't recall that.