50 MILLION AMERICANS UP EARLY TO SEE FUNERAL.Byline: David Bauder Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. About 50 million people in the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. watched some of Princess Diana's funeral early Saturday on live television, networks estimated on Sunday. That would be less than the 58 million people who tuned in to see Diana marry Prince Charles in 1981. While NBC NBC in full National Broadcasting Co. Major U.S. commercial broadcasting company. It was formed in 1926 by RCA Corp., General Electric Co. (GE), and Westinghouse and was the first U.S. company to operate a broadcast network. and ABC ABC in full American Broadcasting Co. Major U.S. television network. It began when the expanding national radio network NBC split into the separate Red and Blue networks in 1928. ran neck-and-neck in attracting viewers for the funeral, as they do in evening news allegiance, the Nielsen Media Research numbers were disturbing for CBS (Cell Broadcast Service) See cell broadcast. . NBC had an 8.1 rating and a 25 share for the hours of 1 to 4 a.m. Pacific time, during the procession and funeral. ABC had a 7.8 rating and 24 share. CBS was a distant third with a 4.0 rating and 12 share, followed by Fox's 2.1 rating and 7 share. CNN CNN or Cable News Network Subsidiary company of Turner Broadcasting Systems. It was created by Ted Turner in 1980 to present 24-hour live news broadcasts, using satellites to transmit reports from news bureaus around the world. also said it had a 4.5 rating for the hours of 4 to 8 a.m., meaning it would beat CBS. Ratings for other cable networks that carried the funeral were not immediately available. The numbers are based on an overnight sampling in 38 major markets, representing more than half the nation's viewers. Complete Nielsen numbers for the entire country will be available later this week. Researchers at both CBS and NBC made the estimate of 50 million viewers. If viewership is measured during just the funeral between 3 and 5 a.m. Pacific time, ABC had a slight edge in the ratings over NBC, 9.7 to 9.6. CBS had Dan Rather as sole anchor of the funeral coverage. NBC had Katie Couric co-anchor with Tom Brokaw, and prominently featured Jane Pauley. ABC had Barbara Walters join Peter Jennings. |
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