‘Hardball’ scores over CNN foe

It’s rare that third-place cable news network MSNBC has good ratings news, but April was an exception, as “Hardball” host Chris Matthews beat CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360,” the first time since its 1996 launch that MSNBC has overtaken CNN in any East Coast prime-time hour. Both shows, which air at 4 p.m. on the West Coast, have been heavily promoted, with Matthews getting special attention as the lead anchor for MSNBC’s election-year coverage.

For the month -- which, for Nielsen Media Research purposes, ended Sunday -- “Hardball” averaged 476,000 viewers to Cooper’s 461,000. Both still lost out to Fox News Channel’s “The Fox Report With Shepard Smith,” which had an average 1.46 million viewers.

Overall, none of three cable networks had much to cheer about compared with their year-ago Iraq War-fueled ratings. Fox had an average 884,000 viewers per hour across its total day in April, down 61% from a year ago, while CNN, with an average 481,000 viewers, was off 69%. MSNBC, with an average 232,000 viewers, was off 72%.

Elizabeth Jensen