CBS’ “Face the Nation” was back on top May 12, winning in both Total Viewers and A25-54 viewers. NBC’s “Meet the Press” was second in Total Viewers and ABC’s “This Week” was second in A25-54 viewers.

Compared to the same week last year, Univision’s “Al Punto” grew the most, up +72% in Total Viewers and +56% in the A25-54 demographic. “Fox News Sunday” also grew in both ratings measurements, up +21% and +12%, respectively.

Year-over-year growth was mixed for “Face the Nation,” down -2% in Total Viewers and up +8% in A25-54 viewers, and “This Week,” up +7% and down -6%, respectively. NBC’s “Meet the Press” was down across the board, -5% in Total Viewers and -22% in the demo.

Cable replays of “Fox News Sunday” averaged a combined 2,449,000 Total Viewers and 507,000 viewers in the demo. Rebroadcasts of “Meet the Press” delivered 1,075,000 Total Viewers and 432,000 A25-54 viewers.

“Face the Nation” is based on the first half-hour only, as the full contiguous hour aired in just 66% of the country.

The numbers for May 12:

President Obama and Turkish Prime Minster Erdogan are taking questions from reporters at a joint press conference at the White House this afternoon. NBC, CBS, ABC, MSNBC, CNN and Fox News are all carrying the presser, which started 48 minutes late. The sun in the Rose Garden turned to light rain while the press corps was waiting.

“This will be incentive for the press to ask concise questions and us to give concise answers,” Obama said.

The first question went to Julianna Goldman of Bloomberg TV, who asked Obama about the IRS scandal and Erdogan about Turkish relations with Israel.

Second question goes to a Turkish reporter, who asked both the President and Prime Minister about Syria.

Third question goes to Jeff Mason of Reuters, who asked about the DOJ seizing AP phone records.

Last question goes to a Turkish TV reporter, who asked about a timeline for Syrian President Assad’s removal.

“Good Morning America” extends its winning streak to nine months finishing last week at #1 in both total viewers and younger viewers. Compared to the same week last year “GMA” was the only show to grow both measurements: up +12% in total viewers and +3% in younger viewers.

Last week, NBC’s “Today” was 900,000 viewers behind “GMA;” last year the once-dominant morning show was behind by 90,000. “Today” was down vs. last year -4% in total viewers / -5% in younger viewers. “CBS This Morning” saw the most total viewer growth in the morning: +13%, but the show was down in younger viewers: -4%.

The averages for the week of May 6:

• Total Viewers: ABC: 5.821M / NBC: 4.905M / CBS: 2.985M

• A25-54 viewers: ABC: 2.127M / NBC: 2.097M / CBS: 1.010M

• CNN has named Stephanie Elam a correspondent, based in Los Angeles. It is Elam’s second go-around at CNN, having left previously to work as an anchor and reporter at KNBC.

• Remember that local news anchor A.J. Clemente who was fired after his first day for saying “fucking shit” on-air? Well, he has a new job. And no, it isn’t TV related.

• Former FNC anchor E.D. Hill was on “The O’Reilly Factor,” where she talked about her decision to have a double mastectomy. She shared her story following Angelina Jolie‘s acknowledgement that she’d had the surgery. Watch after the jump.

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There is a reason why at the CBS upfront in New York yesterday, the first CBS News correspondent mentioned by name was John Miller (the only other two mentioned by name were David Martin and Clarissa Ward).

Following the Boston bombing, the Benghazi investigation and other issues that involve law enforcement, Miller has proven to have impeccable sources in the law enforcement community. That was proven again this morning as he sent other networks scrambling to confirm another scoop: that Boston bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev scribbled a note appearing to confess to the crimes on the inside of the boat he was hiding in.

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Cable TV viewership was down somewhat last week compared to prior weeks, perhaps owing to May sweeps on the broadcasters resulting in more people sticking to the channels lower down on the dial. The top two channels were entertainment channels TNT and USA, which had some big finales of their own. That said, cable news more than held its own, retaining strong ratings.
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As they promised they would, activists took aim at MSNBC at the Comcast shareholders meeting, forcing CEO Brian Roberts to respond.

The Hollywood Reporter‘s Paul Bond has some of the details:

“If you sit back and think about it,” said Borelli, “why would a conservative person in any state want their money to go pay for Al Sharpton’s salary? Have you contemplated the damage that MSNBC and its biased coverage is doing to the overall Comcast business?”

Roberts didn’t buy the premise, given all of the distributors – Time Warner Cable, Dish Network, DirecTV, Verizon, AT&T – that carry MSNBC.

“Ultimately, I think, giving diversity of voices has been what cable has stood for all these years, whether it’s one side or another, so I don’t think in the long run it will change the trajectory of Comcast cable,” Roberts said.

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25-54 demographic (Live +SD)

• Total day: FNC: 305 | MSNBC: 86 | CNN: 141 | HLN: 133

• Primetime: FNC: 336 | MSNBC: 123 | CNN: 179 | HLN: 150

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CBS is delivering its upfront presentation to advertisers, media buyers and the press this afternoon, and CEO Les Moonves took aim squarely at NBC and “Today” in his opening statement.

“We believe that great drama belongs in primetime between 8-11 PM, not at 7 in the morning,” Moonves quipped, as a photo of Ann Curry and Matt Lauer from Curry’s departure from “Today” appeared on stage behind him (see the photo to the left).

Of course, “CBS This Morning” also had a talent change in the last year, as Erica Hill left (eventually joining NBC) and Norah O’Donnell came on board. That said, the transition was free of drama in front of the cameras.

CBS News was given prime placement at the upfront, with Moonves introducing the division. The CBS CEO said that “under the leadership of Jeff Fager and David Rhodes there is a renaissance going on,” before introducing a clip reel with news from the last year. Scott Pelley and O’Donnell then appeared on stage to talk about CBS News.

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Turner Broadcasting channels TBS and TNT pitched their new lineup to advertisers and the press this morning in New York. The big story is that TBS and TNT will be streaming their linear channels online and on new iPhone and iPad apps, becoming the first national entertainment channels to do so (sister channel CNN started testing it out last year).

You can read more from the upfront at Lost Remote, but we also had to share a clip presented by Conan O’Brien at the upfront. O’Brien joked to the crowd that he pitched TBS on a new morning show “shot entirely from the rear-view camera of a Toyota Sienna.” The result is “Wake Up and Back up.”

“I think CNN should really consider this, ” O’Brien joked at a luncheon following the presentation.

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