Fox News Ratings Sharply Fall After Dish Network Blackout

In a very public battle between Fox News and Dish Network, it looks like round one has gone to Dish Network. Fox News took a major ratings hit since their contact dispute with Dish Network.

The 14 million satellite-TV viewers with Dish Network have gone without Fox News Channel since late December as 21st Century Fox and Dish battle over programming fees.

The Nielson ratings since the blackout has been bad news for Fox News. Just prior to the blackout, Fox News was averaging around 1.65 million viewers. In just the first week of the Dish Network blackout, Fox News averaged only 939,000 prime-time viewers

Fox News is still the top cable new channel when it comes to ratings.

CNN prime-time average was 484,000 and MSNBC has 402,000 viewers.

Many Dish customers have called to cancel their subscriptions and demand money back for the duration of the blackout. However, Dish Network is fully within their rights to change or delete programming they wish.

I am a Dish Network customer and I can honestly see both sides of this issue. I watch Fox News often but I don't want to see my already high rates go any higher.

Do you miss Fox News?