• by May 3, 2001

April wasn't kind to the top 10 rated cable networks: Only Lifetime, TNN and the History Channel showed Nielsen gains in primetime for the year.

The female-targeted Lifetime continues on a primetime roll, finishing first for the month in April with a 1.9 rating in cable homes, a 6% increase from the same period in 2000, after coming out on top for the first quarter of the year.

TNN -- recently redubbed The National Network -- propelled by its Monday-night "Raw Is War" slamfests from the World Wrestling Federation, shot up by 67% April to April, although it still has a way to go to match the numbers of general entertainment rivals USA, TBS and TNT. With its 1.0 rating for April 2001, TNN tied for ninth place with History Channel, which was up 11% from April a year ago.

USA tied for second with Cartoon Network in April, both averaging a primetime rating of 1.7 in cable homes. But USA plunged by 26% from its 2.3 rating in April 2000 after losing "Raw Is War" to TNN. Cartoon was flat year-to-year.

The other top 10 networks showing a primetime dip, in order of their ranking, were Nickelodeon/Nick at Nite, down 11%; TBS (21%); TNT (12%); A&E (8%); and Discovery (14%).

The double-digit gainers in April among networks below the top 10 were Comedy Central (up 17%), Fox News (17%), BET (20%), Food Network (25%), Odyssey (67%) and Travel Channel (33%).

Fox News Channel continued to reign over its cable rivals during April, marking its seventh consecutive month on top in primetime ratings.

In primetime, Fox News Channel averaged a 0.7 rating (455,000 households), up 17% in ratings compared with April 2000, according to Nielsen numbers. CNN averaged a 0.6 rating (510,000 households), flat in ratings compared with last April.

CNN continued to top its nearest competition in households, but not by much, considering the 24-hour news network is available in nearly 20 million more homes than Fox News.

One upside for CNN: Larry King's exclusive interview with Laura Bush from the White House posted a 1.8 rating (1.43 million households), making it the highest-rated cable news program of the month.

But, Fox News' flagship show "The O'Reilly Factor" surpassed "Larry King Live" in both ratings and households for April. "O'Reilly" averaged a 1.2 rating (758,000 households), up 50% in ratings from last April even though Bill O'Reilly was on vacation for one week.

"Larry King" averaged a 0.9 rating (750,000 households), down 18% in ratings from last April. "O'Reilly" airs at 8 p.m. EDT, "Larry King" at 9 p.m. EDT.

Meanwhile, MSNBC averaged a 0.4 rating (250,000 households) in primetime, flat with last April. The network continues to boast it has the youngest viewing audience of the cable news networks in primetime, with an average age of 48 for the month, compared with Fox News' 59 and CNN's 62. Networks that skidded by double-digit ratings were ESPN (down 27%), American Movie Classics (13%), ESPN2 (20%), VH1 (20%) and Bravo (25%).

- Reuters/Variety