Weekly Cable Ratings: Fox News Takes Primetime Crown From ESPN

Fox News Channel ended a competitive month of June at the top of both the primetime and total day ratings.

The news network wrested the top spot in primetime from last week’s winner, ESPN, with an average of 1.4 million viewers during the week of June 26 to July 2, according to Nielsen figures supplied by Fox News. MSNBC, which topped the primetime chart during the week of June 5, finished second with 1.1 million viewers, followed by ESPN with 1 million viewers.

HGTV was fourth for the week with 785,000 viewers, followed by INSP with 768,000 viewers. USA Network pulled into sixth place with 661,000 viewers, followed by History (645,000 viewers), Hallmark Channel and TLC (tied with 622,000), and CNN (571,000).

The cable news networks topped the total day chart, led by Fox News’s 25th straight consecutive win with 1 million viewers, followed by MSNBC (784,000 viewers) and CNN (457,000). HGTV (432,000 viewers) and ESPN (427,000) rounded out the top five most watched networks in the category, Nielsen reported.