TNT – led by its National Basketball Association post-season coverage – dunked its cable network competition in finishing as the most watched network in primetime last week.

 TNT averaged 2.9 million viewers to finish first among all cable networks during the week of April 17 to April 23, according to Nielsen. TNT was also the top choice among adults 18-49 in both primetime and on a 24-hour basis.

TNT’s primetime win knocked Fox News out of the top spot and into second place for the first time in the past three weeks, said Nielsen. Fox’s 2.2 million average viewers for the week came amid the dismissal of Bill O'Reilly from the network’s top rated series The O’Reilly Factor over sexual harassment allegations.

MSNBC and HGTV finished tied for third during the week with 1.4 million viewers, followed by TBS, ESPN and USA Network – all tied with 1.2 million viewers.

Discovery Channel (1.1 million viewers), History (1.0 million viewers) and Investigative Discovery (973,000) rounded out the top 10 most watched networks for the week.

Fox News posted the highest average viewership on a 24-hour basis for the 16th straight week, followed by TNT, Nickelodeon, HGTV and Adult Swim, according to Nielsen.

Most Watched Shows For The Week Of April 17-23

DateShowNetwork Total Viewers

4/22   NBA Playoffs-Golden State/Portland                        ESPN               4.3 million

4/23   NBA Playoffs—Boston/Chicago                               TNT                 4.2 million

4/23   NBA Playoffs—LA Clippers/Utah                             TNT                 3.9 million

4/19   NBA Playoffs—Portland/Golden State                     TNT                 3.9 million

4/19   NBA Playoffs—Okl City/Houston                            TNT                 3.7 million

4/17   NBA Playoffs—Indiana/Cleveland                          TNT                 3.5 million

4/20   NBA Playoffs—San Antonio/Memphis                    TNT                 3.4 million

4/17   WWE Monday Night Raw                                     USA                 3.4 million

4/21   NBA Playoffs – Houston/OKL City                        ESPN               3.4 million

4/17   WWE Monday Night Raw                                    USA                 3.4 million

Source: Nielsen

Fox News Channel personality Bill O’Reilly will not return to host his top rated show The O’Reilly Factor, network parent company 21st Century Fox said Wednesday.

In a statement released this afternoon, 21st Century Fox said that “after a thorough and careful review of the allegations, the Company and Bill O’Reilly have agreed that Bill O’Reilly will not be returning to the Fox News Channel.” 

O’Reilly, who has been on vacation since April 12 and was set to return April 24, has been dogged recently by several sexual harassment claims, for which Fox News and O’Reilly have paid $13 million to settle, according to an April 1 New york Times article. Several advertisers have since pulled their commercials from The O’Reilly Factor, adding financial hardship to pressure from activists and women’s rights groups.

O’Reilly’s dismissal is a huge blow to Fox News, which has dominated cable network ratings since 2016. The network, bolstered by The O’Reilly Factor, has been the most watched cable network in primetime for the 12th time in the last 13 weeks and has consistently been the most watched cable show on a total day basis. 

The premiere episode of the final season of Freeform’s drama series Pretty Little Liars was the most social TV show on Tuesday, according to Nielsen.

The series, which will end its run in June after seven seasons, on Tuesday garnered 549,000 social media interactions from 350,000 unique Facebook and Twitter users to lead all entertainment-based shows, Nielsen said. NBC’s The Voice was second with 321,000 interactions, followed by USA Network’s WWE SmackDown, which pinned down 225,000 social media interactions.

Related > Study: Social TV Alive and Well

Fox News Channel’s The O’Reilly Factor and Fox’s Prison Break rounded out the top five series and specials for the day.

Fox Sports 1 and Fox Deportes’ coverage of the UEFA Champions League soccer match between Real Madrid and FC Bayern Munich topped all live sports events for the day with 1.3 million Facebook and Twitter interactions. TNT’s Chicago Bulls-Boston Celtics NBA Playoffs telecast finished second with more than 1 million social interactions, according to Nielsen.

21st Century Fox is getting closer to cutting ties with Bill O’Reilly, the biggest star on its high-rated, profit-generating Fox News Channel, according to published reports.

Following an April 1 article in The New York Times disclosing that Fox News and O’Reilly have paid $13 million to settle a number of sexual harassment claims, advertisers have pulled their commercials from The O’Reilly Factor, adding financial hardship to pressure from activists and women’s rights groups.

O’Reilly went on vacation last week. He had planned to return his show on April 24.

Related > Report: Fox Settled O’Reilly Sexual Harassment Claim Last Summer

Last year, Fox News’s powerful chairman Roger Ailes, who built the channel into a TV juggernaut and political powerhouse, was forced out amid sexual harassment charges.

21st Century Fox’s new CEO James Murdoch appears to be trying to run a more by the books organization than his swashbuckling father Rupert Murdoch, who remains executive chairman of 21st Century Fox and was put in charge of Fox News after Ailes’ departure.

Related > Fox News Channel, Ailes, Shine Named in New Sexual Harassment Lawsuit

The Wall Street Journal said Fox News is preparing to cut ties with O’Reilly, according to people close to the situation. The Journal, like Fox, is controlled by the Murdochs. A final decision on O’Reilly could come as early as the next several days, the paper said.

In New York magazine, Gabriel Sherman reported that the Murdochs are leaning toward announcing that O’Reilly will not return to the air.

One factor pushing the Murdochs is a pending ruling on 21st Century Fox’s $14 billion takeover of Sky TV in Europe, according to the magazine. The British Office of Communications is getting ready to rule on whether Fox is a “fit and proper” owner for Sky. Parting with O’Reilly would make Fox appear more squeaky clean to regulators by removing at least one potential objection.

According to The New York Times a new complaint from a former Fox News employee was registered on the 21st Century Fox sexual harassment hotline. The employee said that in 2008 that O’Reilly would leer at her, grunt like a “wild boar” and called her “hot chocolate.”

The Times said O’Reilly’s lawyer, Marc Kasowitz of Kasowitz Benson Torres, said it was “outrageous that an allegation from an anonymous person about something that purportedly happened almost a decade ago is being treated as fact.”

Kasowitz also said O’Reilly “has been subjected to a brutal campaign of character assassination that is unprecedented in post-McCarthyist America.”

“This law firm has uncovered evidence that the smear campaign is being orchestrated by far-left organizations bent on destroying O’Reilly for political and financial reasons. That evidence will be put forth shortly, and it is irrefutable,” Kasowitz said.

Ailes has also denied all of the charges made against him.

Fox News Channel continued to wear cable’s primetime ratings crown last week, according to Nielsen.

Fox News averaged 2.3 million viewers top all cable networks for the week of April 10 to April 16, according to Nielsen. Fox News topped the primetime ratings charts for the 12th time in the last 13 weeks even as Bill O'Reilly, host of the network's highest rated series The O’Reilly Factor, was on vacation for the majority of the week. Even without a full week of O’Reilly – who recently has been mired in controversy regarding several sexual harassment complaints – the series finshed the week with three of cable's top 10 most watched shows, according to Nielsen.

MSNBC finished second with 1.5 million viewers, followed by HGTV and TNT, both of which averaged 1.4 million viewers for the week. ESPN was fifth with 1.3 million viewers, followed by USA Network and Discovery Channel with 1.2 million viewers each, and History, TBS and Investigation Discovery -- all tied with 1.1 million watchers, according to Nielsen.

Fox News finished as the most watched network on a 24 hour basis for the 15th straight week, followed by Nickelodeon, Disney Channel, HGTV and MSNBC.

TNT was the top choice for adult 18-49 viewers in primetime for the week, while Adult Swim topped all networks on a 24-hour basis within the demo, said Nielsen.

Most Watched Shows On Cable During the Week of April 10 to April 16

DateShowNetworkTotal Viewers

4/16       NBA Playoffs—OKC/Houston                          TNT                                               5.1 million

4/16       NBA Playoffs—Chicago/Boston                        TNT                                              5.1 million

4/10       The O’Reilly Factor                                        Fox News                                       3.7 million

4/11       The O’Reilly Factor                                        Fox News                                       3.6 million

4/10       WWE Entertainment                                      USA                                             3.6 million

4/10       WWE Entertainment                                      USA                                             3.4 million

4/10       WWE Entertainment                                      USA                                             3.2 million

4/15       NBA Playoffs—Memphis/San Antonio               ESPN                                            3.1 million

4/13       The O’Reilly Factor                                         Fox News                                      3.1 million

4/11       WWE SmackDown                                          USA                                            3.1 million

Source: Nielsen

Fox News Channel stayed hot on the weekly ratings front, finishing last week as the most watched cable network, according to Nielsen.

FNC averaged 2.8 million viewers for the week of April 3 to April 9 to take the top spot for the 11th time in the past 12 weeks, according to Nielsen. MSNBC was second with 1.6 million viewers, followed by USA Network’s 1.5 million viewers and HGTV’s 1.4 million watchers.

Related: The News Keeps Making News

TBS, ESPN and CNN tied for fifth with 1.1 million viewers, followed by Investigation Discovery and History with 1 million viewers each and Discovery with 999,000 viewers, said Nielsen.

FNC was also the most watched cable network on a 24-hour basis for the 14th consecutive week, said Nielsen. USA Network was the choice among adults 18-49 during the week.

Related: Fox News Channel, Ailes, Shine Named in New Sexual Harassment Lawsuit

Five episodes of The O'Reilly Factor starring Bill O'Reilly ranked in the top 10 most watched shows of the week, but advertisers began pulling commercials from the show following a New York Times article outlining several sexual harassment complaints against O'Reilly, who the network on Tuesday (April 11) said would be taking a vacation.

Most Watched Cable Shows April 3-9, 2017

DateTelecastNetworkTotal Viewers

 4/6        Hannity                                          Fox News                4.8 million

4/6         Shepard Smith Reporting                 Fox News                4.5 million

4/3         WWE Monday Night Raw                   USA                       3.9 million

4/3         WWE Monday Night Raw                   USA                       3.8 million

4/7         The O’Reilly Factor                          Fox News                 3.8 million

4/4         The O’Reilly Factor                          Fox News                 3.7 million

4/6         The O’Reilly Factor                          Fox News                 3.6 million

4/3         The O’Reilly Factor                          Fox News                 3.6 million

4/5         The O’Reilly Factor                          Fox News                 3.6 million

4/3         WWE Monday Night Raw                    USA                      3.5 million

Source: Nielsen

AMC’s The Walking Dead was the most watched cable show last week with more than 11 million viewers, according to Nielsen.

Cable’s most watched series drew 11.1 million viewers for its Feb. 19 episode, topping all cable shows for the week of Feb. 13-19, according to Nielsen. TNT’s live coverage of Sunday’s NBA All-Star Game from New Orleans was the second-most watched show of the week, averaging 6.5 million viewers, followed by the network’s Feb. 18 coverage of the NBA All-Star Saturday night festivities, which averaged 5.6 million viewers.

Fox News programming represented five of the top 10 most watched shows for the week, including four slots for the The O’Reilly Factor and one for Tucker Carlson Tonight. AMC’s Talking Dead and Discovery Channel’s Gold Rush rounded out the top 10, according to Nielsen.

Fox News was easily the most watched network in primetime and on a total day basis for the first week of February, according to Nielsen.

Fox News averaged 3.2 million viewers during the week of Jan. 30 through Feb. 5, doubling the 1.6 million count of second place HGTV, Nielsen reported.  USA Network finished third with 1.5 million viewers, followed by MSNBC with 1.4 million, and TBS and History with 1.3 million viewers each.

CNN, Disney Channel, Discovery and ESPN all averaged 1.2 million viewers to round out the top 10.

Fox News was also better than Nickelodeon, Disney Channel, HGTV and CNN on a 24-hour basis. USA Network was the most watched network among adults 18-49 for the week, while Adult Swim was the top choice in the demo on a 24-hour basis, reported Nielsen.

Fox News programming also dominated nine of the top 10 most watched shows for the week, according to Nielsen.

Fox News was triumphant once again on the weekly ratings front, winning its fifth straight primetime weekly ratings race.

The news network’s average 1.86 million viewers barely bested ESPN’s 1.82 million watchers to finish in the top spot during the month on Aug. 31 to Sept. 6, according to Nielsen.

Disney Channel finished third with 1.5 million viewers, followed by HGTV and USA Network, which tied with 1.4 million viewers. TBS and History matched each other for fifth place for 1.3 million, while TNT followed closely with 1.2 million. ESPN2 (1.1 million) and Adult Swim (1 million) rounded out the top 10.

Nickelodeon topped Fox News on a total day basis, followed by Disney, Adult Swim and Cartoon Network.

TNT’s Rizzoli & Isles was the top-rated show of the week, while Fox News’ The O’Reilly Factor placed two episodes among the top 10 most watched shows during the period, according to Nielsen.

DateShowNetworkTotal Viewers

9/1         Rizzoli & Isles                                                TNT                                        4.7 million

8/31       WWE Monday Night Raw                             USA                                       3.9 million

8/31       WWE Monday Night Raw                             USA                                       3.8 million

8/31       WWE Monday Night Raw                             USA                                       3.8 million

9/3         College Football (Live)                                  ESPN                                    3.6 million

8/31       Love & Hip Hop Atlanta                                 VH1                                        3.4 million

8/31       The O’Reilly Factor                                         Fox News                             3.3 million

9/1         The Haves and The Have Nots                    OWN                                     3.2 million

9/5         College Football (Live)                                   ESPN                                    3.2 million

9/2         The O’Reilly Factor                                          Fox News                            3.0 million

Source: Nielsen

Fox News Channel was the most watched cable network in primetime for the second week in a row, according to Nielsen.

Fox’s 1.85 million average viewers for the week of March 9 to March 15 bested Disney Channel and AMC’s 1.78 million viewer tally, which was good for a second place tie. ESPN finished in fourth with 1.73 million viewers, followed by TBS’ 1.62 million watchers and USA’s 1.58 million viewers.

 HGTV and History (tied with 1.41 million viewers) Discovery (1.25 million) and TNT (1.91 million) all finished in the top 10 for the week.

Disney was the most watched network on a 24-hour basis with 1.23 million viewers, ending second place Nickelodeon’s three-week, total-day ratings winning streak. Adult Swim, Fox News and USA Network rounded out the top five.

AMC’s zombie-themed The Walking Dead continued to top all shows during the week, followed by its post-show series the Talking Dead. The Walking Dead has been the most watched weekly show since the return of the second half of the show’s fifth season on Feb. 8.

Most Watched Cable Shows For The Week of March 9 to March 15

DateShowNetworkTotal Viewers

3/15       The Walking Dead                                          AMC                                    13.7 million

3/15       Talking Dead                                                    AMC                                    5.9 million

3/9         WWE Entertainment (10pm -11:17 pm)           USA                                      3.9 million

3/9         WWE Entertainment (9 pm-10 pm)                  USA                                      3.9 million

3/9         WWE Entertainment (8 p.m-9 pm)                   USA                                      3.6 million

3/14       ACC Tournament (live)                                    ESPN                                    3.5 million

3/15       SEC Tournament                                             ESPN                                    3.3 million

3/9         The O’Reilly Factor                                         Fox News                              3.3 million

3/13       Gold Rush: Special                                         Discovery                              3.2 million

3/15       Real Housewives of Atlanta                            Bravo                                    3.1 million

Source: Nielsen

Fox News was the most watched cable network last week, beating out all cable entertainment networks in primetime, according to Nielsen.

Bolstered by The O’Reilly Factor, which drew 3 million or more viewers in four of its five live shows last week, Fox News averaged 1.93 million viewers for the week of March 2 through March 8, according to Nielsen.

 TBS was second with 1.76 million followed by USA Network and AMC, which both drew 1.74 million viewers, and Disney Channel which garnered 1.73 million watchers.

Discovery Channel (1.52 million viewers), HGTV (1.50 million); ESPN (1.48 million); TNT (1.45 million) and History (1.42 million) rounded out the top 10.

Nickelodeon kept its hold on the top spot among the most watched cable networks on a 24-hour basis for a third straight week, besting Disney, Adult Swim, Fox News and Cartoon Network in that order.   

AMC’s The Walking Dead and after show The Talking Dead, Discovery’s Gold Rush and USA’s live WWE Monday Night Raw series continued to occupy the top slots among the most watched shows during the week, according to Nielsen.

The Most Watched Shows During the Week of March 2 to March 8

DateShowNetworkTotal Viewers

3/8         The Walking Dead                                          AMC                                    14.5 million

3/8         The Talking Dead                                           AMC                                    5.7 million

3/6         Gold Rush                                                      Discovery                            4.9 million

3/7         Live College Basketball                                  ESPN                                   4.2 million

3/2         WWE Entertainment                                       USA                                      4.0 million

3/6         Gold Rush: Dirt Aftershow                             Discovery                               3.9 million

3/2         WWE Entertainment                                      USA                                        3.8 million

3/8         Real Housewives of Atlanta                          Bravo                                       3.6 million

3/2         WWE Entertainment                                      USA                                         3.5 million

3/3         Rizzoli & Isles                                                TNT                                         3.5 million          

Source: Nielsen

Fox News Channel is set to premiere the film, Killing Kennedy starring Rob Lowe, on Sunday, Nov. 30 at 9 p.m., the network announced today.

A special edition of The O’Reilly Factor will preview the film from 8-9 p.m., where Rob Lowe, co-author of the book Martin Dugard, Fox Business Network’s Don Imus and FNC’s Bill Hemmer will take a look behind-the-scenes.

Based on Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard's best-selling book, Killing Kennedy follows the events leading up the President John F. Kennedy's assassination, starring Rob Lowe as Kennedy along with William Rothhaar as Lee Harvey Oswald and Ginnifer Goodwin as the first lady.