Cable news - statistics & facts

Cable news refers to television channels devoted to 24-hour news broadcasts following the advent of cable television in the 1980s. In 2016, the total number of primetime viewers for cable news in the United States amounted to around 4.76 million. Some of the popular cable TV news networks in the United States include the Fox News Channel, MSNBC, CNN, as well as specialty channels such as Bloomberg Television, and ESPN News. Fox News, CNN, and MSNBC are the most widely watched cable news channels in the U.S., and are sometimes referred to as the “Big Three.”
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Published by Julia Stoll, Dec 17, 2025

Key insights

  • Share of consumers who get news from cable TV daily U.S.
  • 21%
  • CNN average primetime viewership U.S.
  • ****m
  • Weekly reach of cable TV news among adults
  • **%

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