All-star game sparks ratings rally for Fox

The closely contested all-star baseball game boosted the event’s viewership by 17% over last year and helped Fox during a midsummer quiet period in TV.

The game, won by the American League, 3-2, via a ninth-inning rally, was the most-watched program in prime time last week with an audience of 14.4 million people, according to figures released Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research. It helped Fox win the week among viewers ages 18 to 49.

CBS still won among all viewers, primarily because its series do much better in reruns than do its rivals.

NBC’s “Nightly News” was back on top in the evening-news ratings race, averaging 8 million viewers. ABC’s “World News Tonight” had 7.4 million viewers, and the “CBS Evening News” had 6.7 million.

*

Begin text of infobox

*--* Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (July 10-16) as compiled by Nielsen Media Research. They are based on the average number of people who watched a program from start to finish. Nielsen estimates there are 277.93 million potential viewers in the U.S. ages 2 and older. Viewership is listed in millions. Program Net- work View- ers Program Net- work View- ers

*--*

*--* 1 “All-Star Baseball Game” FOX 14.42 2 America’s Got Talent (Wed.) NBC 11.14 3 CSI: Miami CBS 10.61 4 CSI CBS 10.34 5 “All-Star Pregame Show” FOX 10.21

6 So You Think You Can Dance (Wed., 9 p.m.) FOX 9.65 7 CSI: NY CBS 9.55 8 Without a Trace (Thu.) CBS 9.48 9 So You Think You Can Dance (Thu.) FOX 9.34 10 Two and a Half Men CBS 9.15

11 Dateline: NBC (Sun.) NBC 9.03 12 60 Minutes CBS 8.20 13 How I Met Your Mother (9:30 p.m.) CBS 8.13 14 Criminal Minds CBS 8.12 15 Law & Order: SVU NBC 7.97

16 Last Comic Standing 4 NBC 7.58 17 Law & Order (Wed.) NBC 7.57 18 Cold Case CBS 7.49 19 Big Brother 7 (Tue.) CBS 7.36 20 Law & Order: Criminal Intent (Sun.) NBC 7.22

21 NCIS CBS 7.20 22 Big Brother 7 (Thu.) CBS 7.03 23 Primetime (Thu.) ABC 6.98 24 Without a Trace (Sun.) CBS 6.59 25 Grey’s Anatomy (Sun.) ABC 6.50

26 Wife Swap ABC 6.48 27 Hell’s Kitchen (9 p.m.) FOX 6.42 28 Primetime Special (Tue.) ABC 6.39 America’s Got Talent (Thu.) NBC 6.39 30 The King of Queens CBS 6.35

31 48 Hours Mystery (Tue.) CBS 6.33 32 Crossing Jordan NBC 6.30 33 Rockstar: Supernova CBS 6.27 34 20/20 ABC 6.25 35 Law & Order (Fri.) NBC 6.10

36 America’s Funniest Home Videos ABC 5.98 37 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (8 p.m.) ABC 5.97 38 Fear Factor NBC 5.82 Big Brother 7 (Sun.) CBS 5.82 40 Numb3rs CBS 5.79

According to Jim (8:30 p.m) ABC 5.79 42 Family Guy FOX 5.76 43 Treasure Hunters (9 p.m.) NBC 5.75 44 How I Met Your Mother CBS 5.58 45 My Name Is Earl (8 p.m.) NBC 5.49

So You Think You Can Dance (Wed., 8 p.m) FOX 5.49 47 Dateline: NBC (Fri.) NBC 5.43 “Premios Juventud ‘06” UNI 5.43 49 According to Jim (8 p.m.) ABC 5.42 50 The Unit CBS 5.29

51 The Simpsons FOX 5.28 52 Rock Star: Supernova CBS 5.15 53 Medium NBC 5.14 54 Supernanny (9 p.m.) ABC 5.04 55 Supernanny (10 p.m.) ABC 4.97

56 American Dad FOX 4.91 57 Fea Mas Bella (Wed.) UNI 4.83 58 Law & Order: Criminal Intent (Sat.) NBC 4.82 59 Windfall NBC 4.81 60 48 Hours Mystery (Sat.) CBS 4.72

61 “WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event” (9 p.m.) NBC 4.71 62 My Name Is Earl (9 p.m.) NBC 4.62 63 Desperate Housewives ABC 4.53 64 George Lopez ABC 4.53 65 Grey’s Anatomy (9 p.m.) ABC 4.51

66 Las Vegas NBC 4.50 67 “Unbreakable” ABC 4.41 68 Fea Mas Bella (Mon.) UNI 4.37 Fea Mas Bella (Tue.) UNI 4.37 70 Master of Champions ABC 4.35

71 Kyle XY ABC 4.34 72 Cops (8:30 p.m.) FOX 4.33 73 America’s Most Wanted FOX 4.25 74 The Office NBC 4.16 75 Crimetime Saturday CBS 4.11

76 Treasure Hunters (8 p.m.) NBC 4.09 77 That ‘70s Show (8:30 p.m.) FOX 4.00 War at Home FOX 4.00 79 Fea Mas Bella (Fri.) UNI 3.99 80 Cops (8 p.m.) FOX 3.88

81 Hell’s Kitchen (8 p.m.) FOX 3.84 82 “Noche de Estrellas” UNI 3.76 83 Peregrina (Mon.) UNI 3.72 84 Barrera de Amor (Wed.) UNI 3.68 85 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (7 p.m.) ABC 3.66

“WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event” (8 p.m.) NBC 3.66 87 Freddie ABC 3.63 88 King of the Hill FOX 3.44 89 WWE Smackdown! UPN 3.42 90 Barrera de Amor (Tue.) UNI 3.39

91 Brotherhood CBS 3.38 92 Barrera de Amor (Mon.) UNI 3.33 93 Lost (10 p.m.) ABC 3.25 94 Barrera de Amor (Fri.) UNI 3.04 95 That ‘70s Show (8 p.m.) FOX 2.99

96 Cristina UNI 2.96 97 Don Francisco Presenta UNI 2.81 98 Heridas de Amor (Wed.) UNI 2.74 Lost (9 p.m.) ABC 2.74 Blue Collar TV (8:30 p.m.) WB 2.74

101 Malcolm in the Middle FOX 2.73 102 Heridas de Amor (Tue.) UNI 2.63 103 Blue Collar TV (8 p.m.) WB 2.62 104 Everybody Hates Chris UPN 2.59 105 Reba (Fri.) WB 2.48

106 Reba (Sun., 7:30 p.m.) WB 2.28 107 Heridas de Amor (Fri.) UNI 2.25 108 Cantando por un Sueno UNI 2.14 109 Gilmore Girls (8 p.m.) WB 2.10 110 Smallville WB 2.02

Reba (Sun., 7 p.m.) WB 2.02 112 7th Heaven (9 p.m.) WB 2.00 113 Que Madre Tan Padre UNI 1.96 114 Charmed (8 p.m.) WB 1.89 115 Supernatural WB 1.88

116 Living With Fran WB 1.86 117 All of Us UPN 1.84 24 (9 p.m.) FOX 1.84 119 Sabado Gigante UNI 1.78 Girlfriends UPN 1.78

121 Half and Half UPN 1.77 122 7th Heaven (8 p.m.) WB 1.73 123 Love Inc. UPN 1.72 124 Gilmore Girls (9 p.m.) WB 1.71 125 One on One UPN 1.68

126 Charmed (9 p.m.) WB 1.63 America’s Next Top Model 6 UPN 1.63 128 24 (8 p.m.) FOX 1.62 129 Casos Vida UNI 1.58 130 Eve (Thu.) UPN 1.56

131 Hora Pico UNI 1.52

*--*

*--* Network averages Here is the number of viewers (in millions) that each network averaged per hour of prime time, for last week and for the season. Network Last week Season to date CBS 6.97 11.68

FOX 6.47 9.35

NBC 6.46 9.07

ABC 5.06 9.83

UNI 3.21 3.62

UPN 1.99 2.93

WB 1.89 2.89

TEL 0.85 0.90

*--*