Cable news sees rise in viewership

All three cable news networks got an audience boost in October, as viewers tuned in for updates about the sniper shootings.

Final figures released Tuesday put Fox News Channel in the lead, where it has been since the beginning of the year, with an average of 926,000 people tuned in at any given time during the month, compared with CNN’s 794,000 and MSNBC’s 341,000.

Compared with a year ago, when viewing jumped because of the war on terrorism, Fox was up 2%, CNN was down 37% and MSNBC was off 52%.

But compared with September, Fox gained 43%, while CNN spiked 55% and MSNBC jumped 44%.

And while CNN’s venerable top-rated show, “Larry King Live,” for the first time lost out to Fox rival “Hannity & Colmes,” CNN’s “American Morning” (4-7 a.m.) closed what had been a sizable gap with “Fox & Friends” (3-6 a.m.), which nonetheless maintained a 5% lead over CNN in the morning.