NEW YORK — Fox News Channel came out on top during the one hour of midterm election coverage when the three broadcast networks and the cable news channels competed head-to-head.
The Nielsen Co. said Thursday that Fox had 6.94 million viewers during the 10 p.m. hour Tuesday. NBC was second with 6.27 million, followed by CBS with 5.86 million and ABC with 5.53 million. CNN had 2.59 million viewers during that key hour and MSNBC had 2.04 million.
Even though NBC came in first among the broadcasters, its two chief rivals claimed some bragging rights.
ABC said the 6.79 million viewer average for its entire 90-minute election telecast beat NBC and CBS.
CBS, whose evening news broadcast with Katie Couric is a perennial third-place finisher, touted its defeat of ABC at 10 p.m.
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