Fox News was the top cable news channel for the week of April 8, placing fifth in primetime and total day among all the ad-supported cable channels. The network averaged 1.65 million viewers in primetime and 1.00 million viewers in total day.

HLN placed 28th in primetime and 25th in total day, averaging 577,000 viewers and 424,000 viewers, respectively. MSNBC placed 29th in primetime and 34th in total day, averaging 571,000 and 342,000 viewers, and CNN placed 34th in primetime and 31st in total day, with 483,000 and 364,000 viewers.

Current TV placed last among all ad-supported cable channels in both primetime and total day, 94th and 96th place.

Among the business networks: CNBC led the way, placing 56th in primetime and 54th in total day. The network averaged 189,000 and 147,000 viewers, respectively. Fox Business Network placed 93rd in primetime and 91nd in total day, averaging 42,000 and 46,000 viewers, respectively. Bloomberg TV isn’t rated by Nielsen, and hasn’t been since it launched in 1994.

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With a lot of big TV events last week, including “The Bible” on History and some big basketball games, cable TV had a strong week in terms of viewership.

While there was plenty of news, the cable news channels ended up around where they normally do, with Fox News the only channel to crack the top 10. FNC placed fifth in primetime among ad-supported cable channels (sixth among all cable channels) and seventh in total day among ad-supported channels (eighth overall). FNC averaged 1.79 million viewers in primetime and 1.09 million viewers in total day.

MSNBC placed 22nd in primetime and 27th in total day among ad-supported channels (23rd and 28th overall), averaging 748,000 and 398,000 viewers, respectively.

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Today marks the one-year anniversary of “Post 9,” CNBC’s set on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (check out our guided tour of the set here). NYSE Euronext CEO Duncan Nederauer appeared on set to commemorate the anniversary with cupcakes.

“What we have done with you guys in the last six months, taking advantage of the spot, is that you bring the camera right into everyone’s living room,” Nederauer said. “It is all about transparency, and this gives us that opportunity.”

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Fox Business Network has released a house ad taking aim at cable business leader CNBC, while tooting its own horn. The impetus behind the ad was the “booking wars” back and forth last week, which saw a CNBC policy that forbids guests from appearing on FBN or Bloomberg come to light.

The ad quotes from the CNBC policy, and ends with the FBN logo and the tagline “We know how to talk to business leaders.”

• NBC News is launching a company-wide initiative examining gun violence, gun legislation and gun ownership. All NBC News programs, as well as MSNBC, CNBC and NBC news Digital, will provide programming for the initiative, which is being called “Flashpoint: Guns in America.”

• “Dateline” had a very strong Friday night. Leading in to “Rock Center” at 10 PM, the two-hour edition of the program had its best total viewership rating since September of 2011, with seven million viewers.

• NBC news is partnering with the US Patent & Trademark Office and the National Science Foundation on an educational video series, ‘Science of Innovation.” Ann Curry will host the series, which highlights innovators and inventions. It will be available to NBC affiliates and schools across the country.

As violence raged and martial law was decreed in Egypt over the weekend, Saudi Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal met with the Egyptian Ambassador to Saudi Arabia. Why is this a TVNewser story, you ask? Because look at what was on the TV during this meeting: CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” Even more interesting, Prince Alwaleed is the second-largest shareholder of News Corp., which owns Fox Business Network. FBN isn’t likely available in Riyadh, or maybe the Prince is just a Joe Kernen fan. Alwaleed’s media investments go beyond News Corp. He also owns most of Rotana Group (News Corp. has a minority stake). Among Rotana’s holdings is a chain of pan-Arab radio and TV channels.

At the Television Critics Association Winter press tour in Pasadena, CNBC pulled back the curtain on its primetime unscripted programming block, dubbed CNBC Prime, and announced the pickup of two new shows. CNBC Prime will debut Tuesday, March 5 with previously announced pickups “Treasure Detectives” and “The Car Chasers.”

The two new shows are “The Big Fix,” which follows an expert in business turnarounds as he helps struggling businesses, and “Family Business Project” (working title) a competition show giving small, family-owned businesses the chance to win big money.

During the announcement, CNBC clarified what it was trying to do in primetime in a way it hasn’t done before. The closest analogy would be that of Nickelodeon and Nick at Nite. During the day, Nickelodeon is a network for kids, but in the evening, it becomes “Nick at Nite,” a network for baby boomers with programming designed to appeal to their sensibilities.

Here is how CNBC described it:
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Once again the Fox News and Fox Business media relations folks have served up some holiday cheer but taking jabs at their competitors in holiday cards. Yes, the war on Christmas the competition is alive and well at Fox. In the Fox Biz card, below, FBN anchors make the nice list, while a few CNBC anchors make the “naughty” list

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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Via The Reformed Broker, this adorable video of a kid who really loves The Fiscal Cliff, or at least the graphics used by CNBC during its fiscal cliff coverage.

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Hurricane Sandy was the big story last week, though the election was also top of mind on cable news.

For the second consecutive week, Fox News Channel was the number one ad-supported cable channel in primetime, and also placed first in total day ahead of Nickelodeon. FNC averaged 3.12 million primetime viewers, and 1.81 million total day viewers.

MSNBC was also up from its average, though down from the week prior. The channel was 8th in primetime and 10th in total day, averaging 1.45 million viewers and 782,000 viewers, respectively. CNN also saw a big bump, placing 14th in primetime and 13th in total day, with 1.16 million and 751,000 viewers, respectively.

Elsewhere, The Weather Channel placed 25th in primetime and 17th in total day, averaging 797,000 and 640,000 viewers, respectively. HLN was 41st inj primetime and 40th in total day, with 346,000 and 277,000 viewers, respectively. Current TV continues to struggle, placing 90th in primetime and 92nd in total day, averaging 41,000 and 25,000 viewers, respectively.

As for the business networks: CNBC led the way as usual, placing 51st in primetime and 50th in total day, averaging 208,000 and 163,000 viewers, respectively. Fox Business was 81st in primetime and 79th in total day, averaging 81,000 and 58,000 viewers, respectively. Bloomberg TV hasn’t been rated by Nielsen since it launched in 1994.

The full ranker:
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