NBC NEWS WINS RATINGS AGAIN
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NEW YORK — “NBC Nightly News With Tom Brokaw” won the evening news ratings battle for the second week in a row, CBS was second and ABC was a close third, according to figures released Tuesday.
Five years after Walter Cronkite’s departure from the nightly newscast, CBS’ dominance seems to be slipping, with only four-tenths of a ratings point separating the No. 1 newscast from the No. 3 newscast for the week ending June 8.
According to A.C. Nielsen Co. figures, “NBC Nightly News” had a 10.4 rating and a 22 share, “CBS Evening News With Dan Rather” had a 10.1 rating and a 22 share and “ABC World News Tonight With Peter Jennings” had a 10 rating and a 21 share. (Each rating point represents 859,000 homes.)
Not since September, 1981, when John Chancellor was anchor, has NBC News won two weeks in a row.
CBS said that NBC won the week ending June 1 partly because the NBA basketball championship game caused some CBS stations to preempt or shift the Rather news program to an earlier time. The same thing happened last week, with 23 West Coast CBS stations making schedule changes.
With basketball over, next week will be the key test to Rather’s staying power, Brokaw’s strength and Jennings’ gathering steam.
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