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Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Tues., July 7) -- ABC/NBC win prime-time Jackson special duel

By ED BARK
Many viewers either weren't at home -- or weren't terribly interested -- in watching Tuesday afternoon's gang coverage of Michael Jackson's memorial service.

But the ratings perked up for dueling Jackson specials at 9 p.m. on ABC, CBS and NBC.

ABC first aired a decidedly gooey Barbara Walters retrospective on the day's proceedings. It didn't do that well, drawing 106,288 D-FW viewers in finishing third at 8 p.m. behind CBS' repeat of The Mentalist and NBC's America's got Talent (199,290 viewers apiece).

But ABC's tabloid-ier 9 p.m. Family Secrets look at the Jacksons' possible child custody fight jumped to 152,789 viewers, outdrawing less seamy MJ specials on CBS (132,860 viewers) and NBC (126,217 viewers). Fox4's 9 p.m. local newscast came up fourth with 93,002 viewers.

NBC's Jackson special crunched its competitors among advertiser-coveted 18-to-49-year-olds, though, with ABC edging CBS for second place while Fox4's newscast remained fourth.

Coverage of the daytime Jackson memorial began at noon and ran until almost 3 p.m. on most networks. ABC's coverage easily had the largest audience during those three hours, peaking at 166,075 total viewers between 2:30 and 2:45 p.m.

In the cable universe, CNN had the most viewers from from noon to 1 p.m. (73,073) before tying Fox News Channel from 1 to 2 p.m. with 66,430 viewers. FNC then topped the 2 to 3 p.m. ratings with 86,359 viewers.

The Texas Rangers' rallying road win against the Angels -- pushing the North Texas Nine back into a first-place tie -- averaged 132,860 viewers on Fox Sports Southwest.

In local news derby results, WFAA8 again flexed at 10 p.m., winning in total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming.

NBC5 continued its early morning dominance with twin wins at 6 a.m. while WFAA8 controlled the 6 p.m. Nielsens.

CBS11 took a gold for the first time in a while with a rare 5 p.m. win in total viewers. The Peacock took first at that hour among 25-to-54-year-olds.
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