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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Abc Leads TV Ratings With Jackson Interview

Lynn Elber Associated Press

ABC was last week’s ratings victor as viewers found the chance to peer into Michael Jackson’s soul on “PrimeTime Live” simply irresistible.

Diane Sawyer’s live June 14 interview with the pop singer and his wife, Lisa Marie Presley, was the week’s No. 1 program and gave ABC its highest rating ever for one of its news magazines.

About 60 million viewers tuned in for the interview, in which Jackson denied allegations of child molestation and touted his new album, “HIStory Past, Present and Future Book 1.” It went on sale Tuesday.

For June 12-18, ABC had six of the Top 10 programs to earn a leading 9.2 average rating and 18 share, according to figures Tuesday from Nielsen Media Research.

NBC was second with an 8.1 rating and 16 share, followed by CBS’ 7.4 rating, 14 share. Fox Broadcasting Co., which programs 15 of the 22 prime-time hours, had a 4.7 rating and 9 share.

NBC’s highest-rated program was the fourth game of the National Basketball Association finals, which competed with the Jackson interview outside the Western time zone and came in second. The best CBS could manage was 12th-ranked “60 Minutes.”

Fox’s highest-rated program was “The X-Files” at No. 53. Game one of the Stanley Cup Championship finals ranked 88th for the week.