• The Associated Press, Tuesday, March 31, 2009 9:31 AM

For the first time, CNN will be finishing third in monthly prime-time weeknight ratings behind Fox News Channel and MSNBC. CNN is suffering more audience erosion than its rivals since the peak days of the presidential election. The March ratings suggest that the more opinionated prime-time shows on Fox and MSNBC have greater audience loyalty.
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CNN's weekday prime-time ratings are up 1% from March 2008, per Nielsen. Fox's ratings have jumped 30% and MSNBC, the new No. 2, is up 24%. The biggest growth in cable news is for CNN's partner, HLN, formerly Headline News, which is up 62%. Fox, of course, is far ahead of its two closest competitors, with its prime-time audience in March more than that of MSNBC and CNN combined.

CNN pioneered the cable news genre nearly three decades ago. The network says its overall business is healthy and it is not straying from its straight news path.

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