NEW YORK (AP) — Thursday’s GOP debate was watched by 14.5 million people, according to the Nielsen ratings company. The explosive faceoff between presidential hopeful Donald Trump and rivals […]
Exclusives
Saturday’s contentious GOP debate from South Carolina has drawn another impressive audience — 13.51 million viewers and a 3.0 rating in adults 25-54 from 9 to 11 p.m. ET — edging last week’s event on ABC to become the most-watched of the seven Republican and Democratic debates so far this year.
Democrats Should Do A Debate On Fox News
In an unusual arrangement, PBS NewsHour will provide its feed of Thursday’s faceoff between Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton to the cable news network while also distributing it to its 350 “member” stations around the country. The debate will thus be the first of this campaign carried on two networks.
The return of Donald Trump to the stage helped lift ratings for Saturday night’s Republican presidential primary debate on ABC, which has drawn the largest audience for a political gathering of either party in 2016 — and the network’s largest non-sports audience on a Saturday in more than 14 years.
Fox News will host its third Republican presidential primary debate on Thursday, March 3 from Detroit. The 2-hour debate will air live at 9 p.m. ET. Bret Baier, Megyn Kelly and Chris Wallace will return as moderators.
The debates will take place in New Hampshire, Michigan, Pennsylvania and California.
Fox News’ Trump-less debate Thursday night drew 12.5 million viewers, the second-highest telecast in the network’s history but the second lowest-rated GOP debate of the cycle thus far.
Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes, in conversations with Trump, “acknowledged his concerns” about a statement the network had made in the days leading up to the debate, Fox said. But Fox said Trump had demanded a $5 million contribution to his charities in order to appear, which the network rejected.
Donald Trump’s declaration was an unexpected, if not unpredictable, twist in the final days of the Iowa campaign. The real estate mogul had threatened repeatedly to boycott debates before, only to ultimately acquiesce. By picking a fight publicly, Trump assured that even if he goes through with his plan not to show up Thursday, his absence will be the center of attention. Adding intrigue to the Democratic race, the White House said President Barack Obama would host Bernie Sanders for an Oval Office meeting.
CNN is replacing NBC News as the host of the Republican National Committee’s Super Tuesday debate in February. “The Republican National Committee has decided to move forward without NBC’s participation in our February debate in Houston, Texas. The RNC has awarded the debate to CNN, who will broadcast it on Thursday, Feb. 25, in Houston at a location to be decided,” RNC Chairman Reince Priebus said yesterday.
NEW YORK (AP) — Fox News Channel says it will host the seventh Republican presidential debate, taking place next month in Des Moines, Iowa ahead of that state’s caucuses. Fox […]
NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt will moderate the first Democratic debate of 2016, on Sunday, Jan. 17, at the Gaillard Center in Charleston, S.C.
Nielsen said on Wednesday this made it the third most-watched among the five GOP primary debates that have taken place so far this year.
WMUR Booted From Next Democratic Debate
New Hampshire’s most influential television station is being pushed out of next week’s Democratic debate. The reason? A labor dispute between a handful of employees at the station, WMUR, and its owner, Hearst. The Democratic National Committee announced WMUR’s fate on Friday in a joint statement with the New Hampshire Democratic Party that blamed the TV channel and Hearst for the impasse.
World News Tonight anchor David Muir and ABC’s chief global affairs correspondent Martha Raddatz will moderate two primary debates in the coming weeks, both from New Hampshire, site of the first-in-the-nation primary.
WHO Gives Each GOP Presidential Candidate An Hour
Viewer interest in the primary debates of both parties remains higher than previous years, with the second Democratic get-together of 2015 drawing a good-for-Saturday 8.55 million viewers on CBS.
Focused primarily on economic issues, it was least-watched of the GOP debates, behind the 14 million who watched the third debate on CNBC. However, before Tuesday’s debate, Fox Business Network has never before reached as many as 1 million viewers for an event.
The fourth GOP debate — and first since a CNBC session left candidates grumbling about the journalists asking questions —- takes place Tuesday night in Milwaukee. Fox Business Network’s Maria Bartiromo, FBN’s Neil Cavuto and The Wall Street Journal’s Gerard Baker will guide the two-hour discussion starting at 9 p.m. ET. It’s also an opportunity for the relatively little-noticed business cable network, which will try to push its coverage in front of as many viewers as possible.
WHO To Present GOP Candidate Forums
Three presidential candidates — Ben Carson, Bobby Jindal and Donald Trump — have agreed to sit with Tribune’s WHO Des Moines, Iowa, down for live, one-hour televised forums with Iowans where they will discuss three of the most pressing issues.
The nation’s big TV-news outlets are likely to push back against many demands by the Republican National Committee to change the nature of the big televised debates among the party’s candidates for president.
