WXYZ-TV/Channel 7 Celebrates February Victory

WXYZ-TV/Channel 7 Celebrates February Victory

SOUTHFIELD, Mich., March 4 /PRNewswire/ -- WXYZ-TV celebrated a series of impressive rating victories in the recently completed February 2005 A.C. Nielsen rating survey which ended Wednesday. WXYZ-TV was Detroit's number one station in daytime, noon news, afternoons, early fringe and early evening news. ABC news programming also fared exceptionally well on WXYZ-TV. Good Morning America was the number one rated national morning news in the Detroit television market. ABC World News, anchored by Peter Jennings, was Detroit's highest rated national evening newscast.

Leading the way to WXYZ-TV's February rating accomplishment was the dominant performance of Channel 7's Action News. Action News was the number one newscast in the Detroit market for Noon News (12n-1pm), 5pm news, 6pm news and for the entire 5-7:30pm early evening news block. In late news, 11pm Action News experienced a substantial year-to-year increase, outpacing all competitors in growth with a 12% rating increase.

Action News at Noon, anchored by Robbie Timmons and Carolyn Clifford was Detroit's number one noon news. Airing 12n-1pm, Action News at Noon is Detroit's only one-hour noon newscast and handily outdelivers all competition. Action News garnered a 7.2 rating/19 share, topping WDIV's 6.6 rating/18 share and WJBK's 3.5 rating/ 9 share. Year-to-year, Action News at Noon is up 6%.

At 5pm, Robbie Timmons and partner Frank Turner were number one, posting an impressive victory over WDIV. 5pm Action News garnered a 12 rating/23 share, versus WDIV's 8.7 rating/17 share and WJBK's 3.9 rating/8 share. Year- to-year, 5pm Action News has experienced significant growth since posting an 11% ratings increase. February '05 represented the nineteenth consecutive rating book that 5pm Action News has placed first.

6pm Action News, anchored by Diana Lewis and Stephen Clark, placed first with a 12.4 rating/ 23 share, versus WDIV's 10.5 rating/19 share. WJBK was a distant third, garnering a 3.7 rating/7 share. Year-to-year, 6pm Action News is up 10% in ratings, while WDIV and WJBK both experienced declines.

11pm Action News with Diana Lewis and Stephen Clark generated a 11.5 rating/20 share. WDIV garnered a 15.5 rating/26 share. 11pm Action News is up 12% over last year and outdelivers its ABC prime time lead-in share by 25%.

In non-news programming, WXYZ-TV also turned in top rated performances. WXYZ-TV's morning block programming (9-10am Regis & Kelly, 10-11am Jane Pauley and 11am-12n The View) was number one, garnering a 6.3 rating/18 share.

WXYZ-TV's Oprah Winfrey Show (4-5pm) dominated the competition. Oprah delivered an incredible 13.2 rating/ 28 share, topping WDIV (Maury Povich), WJBK (Judge Judy) and WWJ (Judge Mathis) combined. Oprah's February '05 rating on WXYZ-TV was her highest performance in the past decade. Year-to- year, Oprah was up 26%, while WDIV was down 9%

ABC prime time programming also saw dramatic increases over prior performances. Year-to-year, ABC's prime time programming is up 13% while NBC experienced a decline. Detroit's number one rated prime series for February was ABC's smash hit, Desperate Housewives, which averaged a 23 rating.

Each local rating point equals approximately 19,400 households; share represents the percentage of TV sets tuned into a program.

WXYZ is owned by the E.W. Scripps Company (NYSE:SSP), a diverse media concern with interests in newspaper publishing, broadcast television, national television networks, interactive media and television retailing. Scripps operates 21 daily newspapers, 10 broadcast TV stations and six national television brands, including Home & Garden Television, Food Network, DIY Network, FINE LIVING, Shop At Home and GAC-Great American Country. Scripps also operates Scripps Howard News Service and United Media, the worldwide licensing and syndication home of PEANUTS and DILBERT, and 31 websites, including HGTV.com, foodnetwork.com, diynetwork.com, fineliving.com and comics.com.

Source: WXYZ-TV/Channel 7

CONTACT: Marla Drutz of WXYZ-TV/Channel 7, +1-248-827-9300

Web site: http://detnow.com/

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