By Frazier Moore, Television Writer
NEW YORK (AP) --The nation’s birthday week was observed by the networks mostly by scripted repeats along with the usual slate of reality and game shows.
Although NBC’s two-hour “Macy’s 4th of July Fireworks” special ranked sixth and 16th for the week, the top-ranked primetime shows were CBS’ “60 Minutes” rerun and, in second place, a “Big Bang Theory” repeat, according to Nielsen.
The week’s most-talked-about show was likely “Amelia Earhart: The Lost Evidence,” a two-hour investigation into the celebrated aviator’s mysterious disappearance on a round-the-world flight 80 years ago. Although it wouldn’t have cracked the broadcast Top 20, the History documentary was by far the week’s most-watched cable program, drawing 4.32 million viewers.
Among broadcast networks, CBS won the week in primetime, averaging 8.92 million viewers. NBC had 7.73 million, ABC had 6.11 million, Fox had 5.34 million, Univision had 1.78 million, the CW had 1.73 million, Telemundo had 1.44 million, and ION Television had 1.26 million.
Fox News Channel was the week’s most popular cable network, averaging 1.96 million viewers in primetime. HGTV had 1.51 million, USA had 1.43 million and History was right behind with 1.42 million.
ABC’s “World News Tonight” topped the evening newscasts with an average of 7.42 million viewers. NBC’s “Nightly News” had 7.16 million and the “CBS Evening News” had 5.71 million.
Below are primetime viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen for July 3-9. Listings include the week’s ranking and viewership.
1. “60 Minutes,” CBS, 7.43 million.
2. “The Big Bang Theory,” CBS, 7.13 million.
3. “Celebrity Family Feud,” ABC, 6.84 million.
4. “Little Big Shots: Forever Young,” NBC, 6.72 million.
5. “Big Brother” (Sunday), CBS, 6.39 million.
6. “Macy’s 4th of July Fireworks,” NBC, 6.36 million.
7. “Big Brother” (Wednesday), CBS, 6.15 million.
8. “Big Brother” (Thursday), CBS, 6.09 million.
9. “Blue Bloods,” CBS, 5.50 million.
10. “American Ninja Warrior,” NBC, 5.09 million.
11. “NCIS,” CBS, 5.06 million.
12. “Dateline Friday,” NBC, 5.04 million.
13. “Life in Pieces,” CBS, 4.90 million.
14. “America’s Got Talent” (Friday), NBC, 4.78 million.
15. “NCIS: New Orleans,” CBS, 4.75 million.
16. “Macy’s 4th of July Fireworks” (10 p.m.), NBC, 4.73 million.
17. “Steve Harvey’s Funderdome,” ABC, 4.68 million.
18. “Bull,” CBS, 4.64 million.
19. “Hawaii Five-O,” CBS, 4.62 million.
20. “$100,000 Pyramid,” ABC, 4.61 million.
Google Opens Its Defense In Antitrust Case Alleging Monopoly Over Online Ad Technology
Google opened its defense against allegations that it holds an illegal monopoly on online advertising technology Friday with witness testimony saying the industry is vastly more complex and competitive than portrayed by the federal government.
"The industry has been exceptionally fluid over the last 18 years," said Scott Sheffer, a vice president for global partnerships at Google, the company's first witness at its antitrust trial in federal court in Alexandria.
The Justice Department and a coalition of states contend that Google built and maintained an illegal monopoly over the technology that facilitates the buying and selling of online ads seen by consumers.
Google counters that the government's case improperly focuses on a narrow type of online ads — essentially the rectangular ones that appear on the top and on the right-hand side of a webpage. In its opening statement, Google's lawyers said the Supreme Court has warned judges against taking action when dealing with rapidly emerging technology like what Sheffer described because of the risk of error or unintended consequences.
Google says defining the market so narrowly ignores the competition it faces from social media companies, Amazon, streaming TV providers and others who offer advertisers the means to reach online consumers.
Justice Department lawyers called witnesses to testify for two weeks before resting their case Friday afternoon, detailing the ways that automated ad exchanges conduct auctions in a matter of milliseconds to determine which ads are placed in front of which consumers and how much they cost.
The department contends the auctions are finessed in subtle ways that benefit Google to the exclusion of would-be competitors and in ways that prevent... Read More