By David Bauder, Media Writer
NEW YORK (AP) --Tucker Carlson drew the television equivalent of a royal flush on the week before Labor Day.
The controversial Fox News Channel personality had all five of his weeknight programs land in the Nielsen company's 20 most popular programs last week. Four of them were in the Top 10.
Fox's Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham, as well as MSNBC's Rachel Maddow, all had programs in the Top 20 last week, a reflection of interest in the presidential campaign as well as the relative paucity of entertainment options on broadcast television.
None of the broadcast networks topped an average of three million viewers in primetime last week.
NBC, with 2.82 million, narrowly edged ABC's 2.81 million viewers. CBS had 2.6 million, Univision had 1.3 million, ION Television had 1.2 million, Fox had 1.17 million and Telemundo had 1.1 million.
Fox News Channel led the way among cable networks, averaging 3.43 million viewers in primetime last week. MSNBC had 2.11 million, TNT had 1.74 million, ESPN had 1.49 million and TLC had 1.28 million.
ABC's "World News Tonight" led the evening news ratings race with an average of 8.2 million viewers. NBC's "Nightly News" had 7.3 million and the "CBS Evening News" had 5.3 million.
For the week of Aug. 31-Sept. 6, the 20 most-watched programs, their networks and viewerships:
1. "60 Minutes," CBS, 6.45 million.
2. "America's Got Talent" (Tuesday), NBC, 6.41 million.
3. "America's Got Talent" (Wednesday), NBC, 5.66 million.
4. NBA Playoffs: Houston vs. L.A. Lakers (Sunday), ABC, 5.43 million.
5. "Tucker Carlson Tonight" (Monday), Fox News, 4.94 million.
6. "Tucker Carlson Tonight" (Tuesday), Fox News, 4.92 million.
7. "Hannity" (Tuesday), Fox News, 4.85 million.
8. "Tucker Carlson Tonight" (Wednesday), Fox News, 4.8 million.
9. "Tucker Carlson Tonight" (Thursday), Fox News, 4.79 million.
10. "Hannity" (Wednesday), Fox News, 4.67 million.
11. "NCIS," CBS, 4.31 million.
12. NBA Playoffs: Oklahoma City vs. Houston (Wednesday), ESPN, 4.29 million.
13. "Big Brother" (Thursday), CBS, 4.24 million.
14. "Hannity" (Thursday), Fox News, 4.17 million.
15. "Big Brother (Wednesday), CBS, 4.162 million.
16. "The Ingraham Angle" (Monday), Fox News, 4.16 million.
17. "Transplant," NBC, 3.96 million.
18. "The Rachel Maddow Show" (Tuesday), MSNBC, 3.873 million.
19. "Tucker Carlson Tonight" (Friday), Fox News, 3.832 million.
20. "The Ingraham Angle" (Tuesday), Fox News, 3.828 million.
Nintendo reports lower profits as demand drops for its aging Switch console
Nintendo, the Japanese video game maker behind the Super Mario franchise, said Tuesday that its profit fell 60% in the first half of the fiscal year, as demand waned for its Switch console, now in its eighth year since going on sale.
Kyoto-based Nintendo Co. reported a 108.7 billion yen ($715 million) profit for the April-September period, as sales slipped 34% from the previous year to 523 billion yen ($3.4 billion).
More than 74% of its sales revenue came from overseas, according to Nintendo, which didn't break down quarterly numbers.
Global Switch sales during the period dropped to 4.7 million machines from 6.8 million units the previous year.
But Nintendo said in a statement that Switch sales were still growing and vowed to stick to its goal of selling a Switch console to each and every individual, not just one Switch per every household.
Nintendo stuck to its earlier projection for a 300 billion yen ($2 billion) profit for the full fiscal year through March 2025, down nearly 29% from the previous fiscal year.
Annual sales were forecast to drop 23% to1.28 trillion yen ($8.4 billion).
It also lowered its Switch sales projection for the fiscal year to 12.5 million units from an earlier forecast to sell 13.5 million.
Nintendo and other game and toy makers rake in their biggest profits during the Christmas shopping season, as well as New Year's, a holiday celebrated with fanfare in Japan, when children receive cash gifts from grandparents and other relatives.
Nintendo has not yet announced details on a successor to the Switch.
Among its million-seller game software titles for the fiscal half were "Paper Mario RPG," which sold 1.95 million units since going on sale in May, and "Luigi Mansion 2... Read More