FNC’s November ratings release headlined the fact that “Fox News Channel retains largest share of audience post midterm elections.” But in an e-mail to TVNewser, a cable competitor calls it a pathetic claim:

“Fox’s fancy number crunching is a day late and a dollar short. They are desperate to mask the fact that Fox News was the ONLY cable network to lose viewers this month over last November. And when they say they ‘retained more’ since the midterms, this actually means they didn’t have as high of a peak on election day from which to fall. Seems that Fox News’ continuous slide in the ratings just keeps going on and on…”

> Update: 5:51pm: A Fox News spokesperson responds: “Between falling off a cliff after election night and losing the demo race to MSNBC, we can’t blame CNN for being a little bitter.”

SIRIUS Satellite Radio chief Mel Karmazin‘s remarks at the Reuters Media Summit:

“I thought CBS News and CNN, to this day should be combined. I was hoping that Dick (Parsons, CEO of Time Warner) would buy Cablevision and need the cash, because Cablevision was much more strategic (to Time Warner), and then sell me CNN.

I would be candid and say when I was CEO (of CBS), would I have liked to have owned CNN? Yeah.

You’ve got a reporter sitting there from CBS News. You’ve got a reporter sitting all over the world from CNN. Maybe one reporter, one sound guy, on driver of the van, and that’s just the cost side.

The value you create from putting these reporters that you’re not putting redundantly, putting these reporters in other parts of the world where you don’t have news bureaus or doing things you don’t have. I think M&A is fun.”

First on TVNewser: MSNBC’s 3pm show The Most, hosted by Alison Stewart, is moving to noon beginning Dec. 11. Staffers were informed of the move today.

“The 3pm hour will continue to have The Most’s on-air ‘look’ but will be produced by a mix-and-match combination of staff from The Most, dayside and Hardball,” a tipster says. “These changes will likely reverberate through dayside.”

The show premiered in May. At noon, The Most will be up against Fox Online on FNC and Your World Today on CNN…

> Also: An insider says some “interesting tweaks” to the show will be announced next week…

Crews from NBC, CBS, and Fox News gathered at the Dead Sea Marriott to interview Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice today. Brian Williams shares some interesting color in this blog entry:

“Fox went before us in the interview order, and their correspondent tried awfully hard to continue the interview with a straight face… after the conversation was interrupted… by a cat. The pool/beach-front deck at the Dead Sea Marriott is a sea of cats. At one table, we counted four felines, each of them seated in a different chair. These cats are of a tough and saucy breed. They have visible swagger. It’s close to a strut, actually. One of them made off with the sandwich that had been the intended lunch of the CBS cameraman. The cats, as far as I could tell, run the place. When our cameraman tried to apprehend the cat that had been running around the interview, the cat objected loudly and clawed at him. Finally, after another cat interruption, a member of the security detail that surrounds the Secretary picked up the cat and tossed it off the patio, as several of us looked on, certain that this was a first in the annals of Secretary of State interviews. We’re pretty sure the offending cat landed on its feet and is resting comfortably tonight.

Neil Cavuto will begin anchoring a financial newscast for Fox News Radio next month, Kevin Magee announced today.

The press release says the “Cavuto Money Report will consist of three separate one-minute weekday reports: an early morning pre-market report, a market opener, and a market wrap.”

It starts on Jan. 15. ICN has the press release…

So what if Katie Couric has an interview trifecta tonight? Charles Gibson sat down with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki for over 30 minutes today after the Bush/Maliki press conference.

And the interview made news: The Associated Press, Reuters, and other wire services have cited ABC’s interview because Maliki said he believed Iraqi forces would be ready by June 2007 to take full control of security in Iraq.

“The quality vs. quantity phrase comes to mind,” an e-mailer says…

“Keeping her charm in check, Katie Couric made her first foray overseas yesterday as anchor of the CBS Evening News, hosting the show from Amman, Jordan,” the Baltimore Sun notes.

Matthew Felling, media director for the Center for Media and Public Affairs, “counted at least 12 references to the fact that the broadcast was coming from Jordan.” He says it was a little distracting. But “aside from those verbal tics — the constant repetition of the location — it was a solid news presentation. [Last night's] show was an aberration from the trend toward fluff.” More…

So who was the senior cable news executive who “sang the virtues of opinioned journalism” to Ken Auletta last week?

Well Auletta says the mindset “is echoed at Fox and CNN,” so an e-mailer asks: “Doesn’t that mean the senior cable news executive must be from MSNBC?”

At least four e-mailers think Dan Abrams is behind the blind quotes about being transparent and offering “honest opinions” on the air…

I’m hesitant to even link to this item, lest I give it more credibility. But I think it’s helpful to see how random, unsourced, anonymous tips can be taken seriously. This is a message I received via the anonymous tip box yesterday afternoon:

…An insider tattles to us that there have been “lots of closed door meetings” regarding newlywed Alison Stewart’s 3pm show The Most, which debuted in May. Obviously execs don’t appreciate its worldly mix of news and entertainment: We’re told to expect to see it cut next. Meanwhile, a timeline is arising for the futures of Rita Cosby and Tucker Carlson. We already told you that Rita – who lost her own primetime show Live & Direct – was getting the ax. Her exit from the building, we hear, is imminent. And as for Carlson, whose Tucker has been hanging in there with a downsized staff? A February cancelation announcement is scheduled, says our source.

The item even ends with a reference to the staff memo (posted yesterday). The “insider,” who didn’t even send the message from an NBC domain, couldn’t have written the Jossip item better himself. He’s the only one laughing here…

Here are the 3pm to midnight hourlies for Nov. 2006, compared to the same month in 2005, courtesy of CNN.

HLN’s Glenn Beck is showing the most growth of any cable news show. At 7pm, Beck is averaging 148,000 demo viewers, up 155 percent from the 58,000 viewers the time slot averaged in Nov. 2005. At 9pm, Beck is averaging 142,000 demo viewers, up 48 percent from 96,000 a year-ago.

You can analyze all the data:

> Nov. 2006 vs. Nov. 2005 ratings (PDF)