It's a Nasty Convention Ratings War, and CNN Claims Victory Over the Big Guys

Things are getting very down and dirty at the Democratic National Convention -- and we're just talking about the television networks.

Yesterday, for instance, CNN announced that for the first time, it was the most-watched network for national convention coverage, from 10 to 11 p.m. Wednesday.

CNN boasted that its coverage of Day 3 of the Democratic National Convention from the [Soda Pop] Center in Denver beat not only Fox News Channel and MSNBC but also ABC, CBS and even usual top-dog NBC.

"Hooey," responded NBC, claiming it once again was the most-watched network in the 10 p.m. hour, as it has been every night of the Dem orgy of speech giving.

This hotly contested time period is the one to be tops in quite simply because it's the only hour left in which the broadcast networks still cover the national party conventions. On Wednesday in the 10 p.m. hour, vice presidential pick Joe Biden gave his acceptance speech.

CNN says it logged an average of 5.383 million viewers in that hour, and NBC clocked just 5.361 million. NBC, however, insists it copped 5.464 million viewers, besting CNN. Other broadcast networks agreed with NBC's number.

NBC's number for its coverage includes a three-minute overrun; broadcasters report show numbers, and NBC's coverage wrapped at 11:03 p.m.

And yes, three minutes can make all the difference. Those final three minutes on NBC coverage, you should know, averaged 7.522 million viewers.

Cable news networks, on the other hand, report time-slot stats because that's the way they get their numbers from Nielsen. It's like one is talking kilograms, the other pounds.

Let's give the win to CNN. It's not the first in cable-news history: Back in '04, you'll recall, Fox News Channel's coverage of the Republican National Convention beat its cable cousins and the broadcast networks every night in the 10 p.m. hour.

This bit of network smackdown comes two days after the on-air talent at MSNBC suffered some sort of Internecine Meltdown. Among the strange incidents -- but compelling television -- MSNBC show hosts Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann kept Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) waiting for an eternity while they spat at each other over who was blathering the most -- they even exchanged angry flapping-lips hand gestures.

The same day, "Morning Joe" host Joe Scarborough and MSNBC correspondent David Shuster thumped their chests and snapped at each other, which escalated to the point that Scarborough was left gibbering at Shuster, "Do you ever watch this show? . . Oh, that's right, you usually sleep through this show, because you didn't show up three times in a row," while the rest of his on-air gaggle watched nervously, in silence.