Weekly Cable Ratings: Fox News Holds Off Olympics-Driven USA To Win in Primetime, Total Day

USA Network’s coverage of the Paris Summer Olympics last week couldn’t propel the network over Fox News Channel, which finished in first place on the primetime chart for the ninth straight week.

Fox News averaged 2.2 million viewers for the week of July 29-August 4 to top all cable networks, according to Nielsen numbers supplied by Fox News. USA Network finished second for the week with 1.2 million viewers, bolstered by its coverage of the Olympics' opening week.

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MSNBC finished third for the week with 1.1 million viewers, followed by CNN’s 638,000 viewers and Hallmark Channel’s 624,000 watchers. INSP was sixth with 551,000 viewers, followed by TBS (474,000 viewers), HGTV (473,000), ESPN (460,000) and Syfy (421,000).

Fox News notched its 30th consecutive win on a total-day basis, averaging 1.4 million viewers. USA Network (1 million viewers), MSNBC (783,000), CNN (479,000) and Hallmark Channel (333,000), rounded out the top five most-watched networks on a 24-hour basis, according to Nielsen.