Sweeps News Ratings Update

With one week to go, news ratings are up for nearly all newscasts, because of the winter storms and Liz Carroll muder trial this month. And it was more bad weather than the murder trail, says Bill Fee, Ch 9 general manager.

All four morning newcasts are up nearly by a ratings point, with Ch. 19 up 1.4 points from November to jump ahead of Ch 5 into third. Just three-tenths of a point separates second, third and fourth place in the mornings.

Ch 9 still leads 5-6:30 p.m., up 2.2 points from November. But Ch 12 has closed the gap, up 3 points from November, and has reclaimed second place at 5 p.m. from Ch. 5, which won that time period in November. Fee notes that last night, with the Carroll verdict breaking, 51.6% of the Nielsen homes watched the 6 p.m. news -- compared to the Feb average of 57.9%, and below the 65.4% peak for the Feb. 12-14 ice/snow storm last week.

Ch 19 is having a big month at 10 p.m., up 3.6 points thanks to "American Idol" plus the bad weather and trial.

Ch 12 continues to win bigger and bigger at 11 p.m., with Ch 9 up a bit and Ch 5 flat from November.

Here are the numbers to date:
6-7 AM
Ch 12, 6.0/20%
Ch 9, 4.8/16%
Ch 19, 4.6/15%
Ch 5, 4.5/15%

5-6:30 PM
Ch 9, 10.9/20.3%
Ch 12, 9.6/17.6%
Ch 5, 5.5/13.6%

10 PM
Ch 19, 9.3/15%
Ch 64, 2.4/4%

11 PM
Ch 12, 14.3/26%
Ch 9, 8.6/16%
Ch 5, 5.6/10%