• Reuters, Friday, April 10, 2009 11 AM

"If the U.S. changes to a totally Democratic Washington, all those who don't like it, which is 48% percent of the country, will be turning on Fox News," according to Rupert Murdoch back in 2006. Turns out he was right.

Three months after Barack Obama took the White House, Fox News is beating its rival cable news networks, MSNBC and CNN, in the ratings game. The channel had an average of 2.25 million primetime viewers, seven days a week, in the first quarter of 2009, per Nielsen. That is up 24% from last year. In all-day viewing, Fox News rose 26%.

These ratings triumphs give News Corp investors reasons to stay in the game, even as the media company struggles. The latest Nielsen numbers show Fox News' strong performance continuing into April, offering even more hope to wary investors. The market has hammered News Corp.'s shares harder than its rivals; they fell 62% in the past 12 months.

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