Fox Dominates Last Week's Ratings

According to Reuters, Fox dominated in prime-time television ratings last week, in part, due to its airing of Super Bowl XLII. The game, where the New York Giants were victorious over the New England Patriots, was the most-watched sporting event in U.S. history. Whichever network broadcasts the Super Bowl dominates ratings that week, and Fox also scored big with the episode of House that followed the game, and two episodes of American Idol, Nielsen Media Research reported on Tuesday.

The top seven rated shows among the prized 18-49 year-old age demographic in the week ending Feb. 3 were broadcast on Fox, which is owned by News Corp.

ABC programs completed the rest of the top ten prime-time shows for the week with its airing of two episodes of the hit drama Lost and the premiere of Eli Stone. ABC is owned by Walt Disney Co.

In this season, affected by the writers' strike, Fox ratings have seen a 17 percent increase; NBC and ABC have each decreased 9 percent in ratings, while CBS has seen a ratings decline of 23 percent among 18-49 year-olds.

CBS is part of CBS Corp. and NBC is majority-owned by General Electric Co.