Meanwhile, Fox News conjures up an image of the network ratings horse race in their card, showing Fox News ahead of the broadcast competition, while one network stumbles and two others remain in the “Grooming Center.” See it after the jump.

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The Nielsen-rated networks covering the election this year were NBC, ABC, CBS, Fox, PBS, Univision, Telemundo, Fox News Channel, CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, Current TV and TV One.

Among the broadcasters, NBC led the way with 12.12 million viewers, followed by ABC with 10.52 million viewers, CBS with 7.92 million and Fox with 4.93 million. The cable news ratings for primetime can be found here. Fox News was second among all networks in prime behind NBC, followed by ABC, CNN, CBS, Fox and MSNBC.

PBS notes that it had a cume audience of six million, more than its 2004 and 2008 ratings combined, though for the evening it averaged around a million viewers each hour, well below the broadcast competition.

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• C-SPAN will broadcast the funeral of former Senator and presidential candidate George McGovern Friday afternoon beginning at 2pmET. The service is being held at the Mary Sommervold Theatre in Sioux Falls, SD. McGovern died Sunday at age 90.

• Keir Simmons joins NBC News as a London correspondent. Simmons will report for “Today,” “NBC Nightly News,” MSNBC and NBCNews.com. Simmons joins from ITV News where he’s been UK editor for the last five years.

• CBS and Yahoo! have joined up in a deal that will rename the “The Insider” “omg! Insider.” omg! is Yahoo!’s celebrity gossip blog. The show will continue to be hosted by Kevin Frazier and former HLN anchor Brooke Anderson. Lost Remote has more.

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Nielsen’s number includes NBC, ABC, CBS, Fox, PBS, Univision, Telemundo, Fox News, CNN, Current TV, CNBC and MSNBC.

All told, the second debate was down slightly from the first Presidential debate of the cycle, which drew 67.2 million viewers, and up significantly from last week’s VP debate, which drew 51.4 million. Compared to the second debate of 2008, the ratings are up by a few million viewers.

You can view the breakdown of the cable and broadcast ratings from last night here.

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Today TVNewser published its 35,000th post. It was this post, our latest episode of Cubes on Newsweek & The Daily Beast. (By the way, all of our MediabistroTV shows can be seen on our YouTube channel. Check them out when you have a minute.)

TVNewser also just finished its best month ever with more than 3.2 million page views and 1.7 million unique visitors. Our coverage from the RNC and DNC, stories related to 9/11/12, the tragedy at the embassy in Benghazi and the unfortunate end to a car chase on Fox News last week — our most-read story ever — led to a record month. And we’re on track for a record year.

So thanks to all of you for sticking with us over the years, from when Brian put up that first post on CableNewser almost 9 years ago to today. It’s been a blast watching the site, and Mediabistro, grow — including adding other great media sites to our network like TVSpy and LostRemote.

We hope we’ve kept you informed and entertained with the News about the News and made this a place where you can take part: to discuss, react, complain and opine about the ever-evolving always entertaining TV news business.

-Chris

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Fox News was the most-watched cable news network during the debate, and will likely be the most-watched network on TV, though final broadcast numbers will not be released until after 4 PM.

Update: Finals are in, and ABC was the top network during the debate, followed by NBC and CBS. Fox News ended up fourth. Finals numbers can be viewed here.

Fox News, MSNBC, NBC, Fox and CBS are all up from the same debate in 2008, while CNN and ABC are down. In the adults 25-54 demo, FNC and MSNBC are up compared to 2008, while CNN is down.

The 58 million figure (and the 52.4 million figure) does not include coverage on PBS, Univision, C-SPAN, the cable business networks or online.

The numbers:

From 9-10:30 PM

Cable:
FNC: 10,421,380 total viewers, 2,932,907 adults 25-54
CNN: 6,045,109 total viewers, 2,368,589 adults 25-54
MSNBC: 4,710,511 total viewers, 1,852,629 adults 25-54

Broadcast (based on Nielsen Fast Nationals, which could change in finals):
CBS 10,176,000 total viewers
ABC 10,117,000 total viewers
NBC 9,914,000 total viewers
FOX 6,977,000 total viewers

From 8-11 PM, which includes pre- and post-debate analysis:

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Brian Williams to Anchor NBC’s Debate Coverage

Sawyer and Stephanopoulos to Lead ABC’s Debate Coverage

Scott Pelley to Anchor CBS Debate Coverage

Kelly, Baier to Lead Fox News’ Debate Coverage

MSNBC’s Primetime Hosts to Lead Debate Coverage

Fact Checking to Play Big Role in CNN’s Presidential Debate Coverage

FBN’s Cavuto in Colorado

Update: Univision and CNBC have plans too. See them after the jump.

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The new look for the site features a lighter background, larger text and bigger photos, making it less cluttered and easier to read. There are fewer stories featured at the top, but readers get more information from them.

The links to the CBS News program sub-sites are a little harder to find, but still at the top of the page. There also appears to be a new ad unit at the top of the page.

Take a look at the old layout to the left, and the new design to the right, below.

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The New York Times‘ Brian Stelter examines the diverging interests of the evening news programs today, noting the three newscasts “are shaking up conventions that stretch back 50 years” in search of unique identities:

On some days, the differences at 6:30 p.m. are substantive; on a Thursday in December, CBS led with Iran’s capture of a United States drone surveillance aircraft, NBC opened with an investigation into the mishandling of soldiers’ remains, and ABC with the mysterious shooting of a police officer at Virginia Tech.

On other days, they are stylistic; on Tuesday, as the Iowa caucus commenced, ABC led with a piece on Rick Santorum’s surge, CBS led with a news-making interview of Newt Gingrich, and NBC with a recap of the day’s campaigning. continued…

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This week, CBS News is looking for a new producer/writer, while PBS NewsHour is hiring a digital news editor. Fox News is seeking a freelance foreign desk editor, and MTV2 needs a freelance project manager. Get the details on these TV gigs and more below, and find additional just-posted jobs on mediabistro.com.

• Producer/Writer CBS News (New York, NY)
• Digital News Editor PBS NewsHour (Arlington, VA)
• Freelance Foreign Desk Editor Fox News (New York, NY)
• Freelance Project Manager MTV2 (New York, NY)
• Associate Producer Current TV (Culver City, CA)

For more job listings, go to the Mediabistro job board, and to post a job, visit our employer page. For real-time openings and employment news, follow @MBJobPost.

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It has been a solid Q3 2011, as well as a solid 2010-11 season for the weekend network morning shows. Compared to the third quarter of last year, both editions of NBC’s “Today,” both editions of ABC’s “Good Morning America,” CBS’ “Saturday Early Show” and CBS’ “Sunday Morning” all experienced total viewer growth.

NBC’s “Today” is #1 on Saturday while CBS’ “Sunday Morning” takes the top spot on Sundays. ABC’s “Good Morning America” posted the largest total viewer growth compared — +12% on Saturday and +24% on Sunday.

It’s a similar story for the 2010-11 season. NBC’s “Today” finishes #1 on Saturdays and CBS’ “Sunday Morning” is #1 on Sundays. Both shows enjoy a large total viewer separation from their closest competitor: on Saturdays, NBC bested ABC by 960,000 total viewers and on Sundays, CBS outperforms NBC by 1.41 million viewers, drawing the largest audience of any edition of the weekend morning shows.

The averages for Saturday Q3 2011:

• Total Viewers: NBC: 3.61M / ABC: 2.95M / CBS: 1.62M

• A25-54 viewers: NBC: 1.36M / ABC: 1.08M / CBS: 575K

The averages for Sunday Q3 2011:

• Total Viewers: CBS: 4.51M / NBC: 3.35M / ABC: 2.96M

• A25-54 viewers: CBS: 1.44M /NBC: 1.28M / ABC: 1.08M

The averages for the Saturday 2010-11 Season:

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On Tuesday we told you about how the broadcast evening newscasts had grown their total viewership year-over-year, after 8 seasons of declining viewership.

And now, with the numbers complete for the 2010-11 season, Nielsen reports that for the first time since the 1992-93 TV season, all 3 morning newscasts grew in A25-54 viewers. And for the first time since the 2003-04 TV season, all 3 morning newscasts grew in Total Viewers.

NBC’s “Today” remains the leader in the mornings with a 744,00 total viewer lead on #2 ABC’s “Good Morning America.” “GMA” shows the most growth season-to-season: +10% in Total Viewers and +3% in A25-54 viewers. “Today” is up +2% in both measurements and CBS’s “Early Show” was up +1% in Total Viewers and up slightly in younger viewers.

One more note, the 9am hour of the “Today” show topped ABC’s “The View” in Total Viewers for the season. That’s the first time that’s happened since the 2006-07 season.

We’ll have the complete numbers a little later today…

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It will be televised nationally on NBC as a replacement to the Aug. 7 Pro Football Hall of Fame game, that was cancelled last week.

There you go, preseason football fans. You can’t say NBC or the NFL cheated you out of a nationally televised game.

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Once Derek Jeter reaches 2,999 career hits, the marked ball will be deployed during his at-bats, one at a time, and each ball’s outcome is tracked by an Authentication staffer. The home-plate umpire and a bat boy will have the process down pat for each game. Start with four or six balls — usually four, but depending on the ump — and then go through them meticulously until Jeter strokes his 3,000th hit.

How do you decide on four dozen balls?

“It’s as needed,” said Howie Shelton, program manager for MLB Authentication, and the person who actually marked the balls. “If he takes a while, he gets maybe 12 balls into it, we’d have to mark up some more. Derek’s a contact hitter. He could foul off five, six or seven pitches, and we have to be ready.”

After 2,999, any balls are removed from play under normal circumstances — tossed out after a pitch in the dirt, or perhaps Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira comes off the field after a 4-3 putout and flips the ball into the crowd behind the Yankees’ dugout. In that case, let’s say it’s ball No. 20 after hit 2,999. The MLB Authenticator simply marks: “20 — Teixeira throws into crowd.”

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.