> Dec. 20: "I think radio will be as big as TV for Fox," Roger Ailes says

> Dec. 14: Georgia Democratic Senator and strong Bush supporter Zell Miller will join the Fox News Channel as a contributor

> Dec. 6: Fox News becomes the "primary news provider to radio giant Clear Channel Communications Inc"

> Nov. 19: "The sometimes controversial Fox News network will be allowed on Canadian digital television next year"

> Oct. 28: The lawsuits are dropped: "There was no wrongdoing whatsoever by Mr. O'Reilly, Ms. Mackris, or Ms. Mackris' counsel, Benedict P. Morelli & Associates," a carefully-worded statement says

> Oct. 18: O'Reilly cancels events designed to promote his new children's book; Mackris stops coming to work

> Oct. 13: Bill O'Reilly and producer Andrea Mackris file dueling lawsuits. He claims an extortion attempt; she claims he sexually harassed her and talked to her about "phone sex, vibrators, threesomes, masturbation, the loss of his virginity, and sexual fantasies"

> Oct. 2: FOXNews.com posts fabricated quotes from Carl Cameron attributed to John Kerry; FNC calls it a mistake while critics call it "malice"

> Sept. 29: KVI-AM in Seattle becomes the first "Fox News branded radio station in the country"

> Sept. 19: O'Reilly: "The Factor and other Fox News programs are accumulating millions of viewers...We are now the big kids"

> Sept. 1: A couple hundred protesters hold a "Shut-Up-A-Thon" outside FNC headquarters

> Aug. 6: Outfoxed premieres in several theatres

> Jul. 21: Almost 150 representatives and Congressional aides packed inside a room in the basement of the Capitol building to watch the documentary

> Jul. 19: MoveOn holds a press conference to announce the complaint. Fox calls it a "transparent publicity stunt"

> Jul. 18: MoveOn.org files a complaint with the FCC about "deceptive practices" allegedly used by Fox News. Thousands of people view the documentary at house parties across the country

> Jul. 12: Filmmaker Robert Greenwald holds a press conference to unveil "Outfoxed," a documentary which purportedly documents FNC's right-wing slant. The producers publish thirty-three internal memos from FNC. "If any news organizations decide to make this an anti-Fox News story, then all of their material becomes fodder immediately for possible out of context and biased documentaries," Fox says

> Jun. 14: Brit Hume jumps out of an airplane with George H. W. Bush

> Jun. 14: FOXNews.com unveils a redesign. It took a while to get used to

> Jun. 6: Fox was the first network to report the news of Reagan's passing. One viewer says FNC's coverage is "like an Irish wake"

> Jun. 3: Neil Cavuto abuses his program to promote his new book

> May 4: FNC puts up a billboard outside CNN Center: "Sign up with AMERICA'S NEWSROOM! Forward resumes to resume@foxnews.com"

> Apr. 30: "I end up spending a lot of time watching Fox News, because they're more accurate in my experience," VP Cheney says

> Mar. 24: Fox News broadcasts a tape showing that Richard Clarke formerly praised the Bush admin. Controversy ensues. Bob Kerrey says FNC "violated a serious trust"

> Mar. 10: The "How To Save Your Life" series about protecting yourself from dirty bomb attacks and suicide bombers seems extreme

> Feb. 28: Geraldo Rivera's convoy comes under fire near Mosul, Iraq. "Did you get the shot?," Geraldo asks the cameraman

> Feb. 11: FOX News profits are up 23% in the fiscal second quarter

> Feb. 10: Bill O'Reilly admits he was wrong about WMD's

> Feb. 7: Geraldo Rivera's cheerleading for Michael Jackson paid off when he had an exclusive phone interview with Jacko

> Feb. 2: "Geneva Overholser (a former WashPost ombudsman) has 'resigned from the board of the National Press Foundation because it plans to honor Fox News anchor Brit Hume'"

> Jan. 28: Watch FOX News Alerts at Walmart!

> Jan. 13: Is Bill O'Reilly Past His Prime?

> Dec. 20: "CNN is also weighing a primetime show" for Tucker Carlson

> Dec. 16: Court TV anchor and talk radio host Nancy Grace is expected to host the new CNN Headline News legal show

> Dec. 15: CNNfn staffers gather for a final farewell. The network signs off the air at 2pm. Engineers begin taking the set apart half an hour later

> Dec. 15: A Pale Male protester is arrested for harassing Paula Zahn's family. He is ordered to stay 1,000 feet away from them

> Dec. 6: What's going on with CNN Headline News anchor Rudi Bakhtiar?

> Dec. 3: CNN asks the Pentagon for an explanation of "possible deliberate misinformation" relating to an October incident when a Marine spokesman gave CNN misleading info

> Nov. 22: "Online media entrepreneur and news executive" Jonathan Klein is named president of CNN/U.S. "Interesting, arresting, provocative, engaging. Those are all words that I hope can be associated with CNN in the months and the years ahead," Klein tells reporters

> Nov. 15: CNN debuts "edgy" new ads for CNN.com. A CNN VP calls the ads "kind of uncharted territory" for CNN

> Nov. 15: Apprentice runner-up Kwame Jackson is approached by CNN to host a possible program

> Oct. 28: CNNfn shutting down: "Effective mid-December, we will cease business operations of...CNNfn," Jim Walton tells staffers. "This was as much about growth as anything else," he tells reporters

> Oct. 19: Carol Costello and her early-morning CNN program move to NYC

> Oct. 15: "Did you see Crossfire?" "You have a responsibility to the public discourse, and you fail miserably," Jon Stewart says

> Oct. 14: "CNN's top brass is considering moving the fast-rising 'Lou Dobbs Tonight' from 6 p.m. to prime time"

> Sept. 27: CNN producer Riad Ali is abducted by armed men in Gaza City; He was released 24 hours later

> Sept. 20: Paula Zahn's show is retooled: "Prime Time Politics" focuses on .. politics

> Aug. 31: American Morning co-anchor Soledad O'Brien gives birth to twins

> Aug. 18: Princell Hair wants to take CNN "on the road" during the election season

> Jul. 29: CNN's convention producer feed includes the F word

> Jul. 29: Insiders wonder about the future of Paula Zahn after she's MIA during the convention

> Jul. 9: CNN hires former MSNBC host and Miami anchor Rick Sanchez

> Jul. 7: CNN introduces wonderful, minimalist lower-thirds. (Jon Klein starts screwing with them in December

> Jun. 21: A lightning strike causes a 20-minute loss of audio during a CNN forum in Dubai

> Jun. 21: CNNfn is becoming more "consumer-oriented:" A real estate show is planned

> Jun. 6: CNN's initial coverage of Reagan's death was disappointing; They made a mistake when they ended live Reagan death coverage at midnight

> Jun 2.: CNN files suit against the state of Florida, demanding access to a list of potentially ineligible voters

> May 15: CNN is moving into its new NYC headquarters at the Time Warner Center

> May 13: Mark Nelson named E.P. of Paula Zahn Now

> May 3: A CNN film crew came under Palestinian fire Sunday and attempted to warn a family who was subsequently killed

> Apr. 24: CNN Headline News anchor Robin Meade is TV's sexiest newscaster, according to a poll by Playboy.com.

> Apr. 20: "A CNN crew was detained and their tape was confiscated after apparently attempting to videotape an Israeli nuclear reactor this afternoon."

> Apr. 14: Joel Cheatwood is named senior executive producer in charge of program development for CNN Headline News

> Apr. 8: Ted Turner is awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

> Mar. 23: Jim Miller, the senior EP of 360 and PZN, "resigns."

> Mar. 22: David Bohrman plans to add a "live reporting desk" in D.C., and mentions other changes

> Mar. 11: CNN "owns" the Madrid bombing story. (Fox uses it to scare viewers)

> Feb. 7: Why Does CNN Need 27 Credentials for the Scott Peterson Trial?

> Feb. 5: "CNN International is cutting about 30 jobs and reconfiguring the way it produces news..."

> Feb. 4: CNN issues new digital newsgathering equipment to its bureaus and names three "international video correspondents."

> Jan. 28: Jeff Flock resigns, after 24 Years At CNN

> Jan. 23: Princell Hair dictates dramatic changes at CNN: "Today the blueprint has been laid, the map drawn," he says in a memo

> Jan. 6: Princell Hair tells TV critics that "2004 will be a year of stability at CNN"

> Dec. 22: MSNBC is planning to debut two new entertainment shows in February

> Dec. 16: Deborah Norville will leave MSNBC in mid-January 2005; "There are simply not enough hours in my day," she says

> Nov. 15: Sam Shane leaves MSNBC and moves back to the West Coast

> Nov. 8: Bob Wright: "I think MSNBC is cleaner, more straightforward, more predictable and very well produced. We'd obviously like to have a much larger share of the audience than we have today"

> Oct. 26: MSNBC apologizes for a Lawrence O'Donnell shouting match on Scarborough Country

> Sept. 17: Rick Kaplan wants Imus to broadcast his radio show from Secaucus

> Sept. 13: Keith Olbermann wins Playgirl's "sexiest newscaster" poll

> Sept. 7: MSNBC returns to a tweaked main studio

> Aug. 21: MSNBC shills for its parent by airing the "NBC Fall Preview Special" multiple times

> Aug. 20: Chris Matthews tears apart Michelle Malkin on Hardball. "One of my jobs on 'Hardball' is to cut through to the truth," he writes on MSNBC.com. Malkin calls it "slimeball"

> Aug. 16: LostRemote offers a must-read feature: "How MSNBC Can Save Itself From Itself"

> Aug. 12: Microsoft may be interested in "pulling the plug" on its part of MSNBC, the Daily News says

> Aug. 11: MSNBC begins broadcasting coverage of the Olympics. The Summer Games give the network a ratings boost

> Aug. 10: Joe Scarborough introduced President Bush at a rally in Florida, igniting a bit of controversy

> Aug. 8: MSNBC's world HQ finally get new flooring

> Aug. 5: MSNBC experiments with primetime by placing "After Hours" at 9pm

> Jul. 30: MSNBC shows "vitality" during the Dem convention, and the Faneuil Hall set is a hit. Some viewers want "After Hours" to stick around

> Jul. 21: MSNBC announces Hardblogger, the first of several blogs tied to the network's primetime shows

> Jul. 15: Ron Reagan says he wants an MSNBC talk show

> Jun. 4: MSNBC plans 48 hours of live D-Day anniversary coverage -- only to see half of it scrapped due to Reagan's death

> Apr. 5: The "Save MSNBC" contest begins

> Mar. 27: Ashleigh Banfield leaves MSNBC. "Regrettably, we were unable to agree on a new assignment for her," NBC says

> Mar. 24: Deborah Norville is tricked by The Onion

> Feb. 18: "One of the things MSNBC needs most is some patience with the schedule," Kaplan tells USA Today

> Feb. 17: "Richard Kaplan, veteran journalist for more than 30 years, has been named President of MSNBC," the network announces. Howard Kurtz cites Kaplan's "aggressive style and outsize personality," and says it "clearly signals" that "more changes lie ahead"

> Feb. 16: Rumors that Rick Kaplan will take over begin to surface

> Jan. 21: "Deborah Norville Tonight" premieres. "The key ingredient in the coming weeks is simple: book a variety of fascinating guests, for live in-studio interviews"

> Jan. 20: MSNBC Editor in Chief Jerry Nachman died. Jerry was well-informed, candid, witty, and charming. He was also a gifted newsman and executive, and his passing is a loss not just to NBC but to the entire profession," Bob Wright says

> Jan. 7: MSNBC announces "Deborah Norville Tonight." "I think she'll be successful with this," Erik Sorenson says

> Jan. 15: "For the first time, things are doing a little better at MSNBC [in primetime]," Jeff Zucker says

> Jan. 15: Chris Matthews asks Deborah Norville if she can beat Larry King's ratings: "Oh gosh, no, not right off the bat, but look, television is a marathon..."

> Dec. 22: The Big Idea will begin its daily run on January 24

> Dec. 3: After a five month struggle, CNBC announces that John McEnroe's 10pm program will be replaced by Donny Deutsch's 'Big Idea'

> Nov. 18: Steve Friedman is back: Zucker taps him to "help overhaul CNBC...starting with its prized a.m. flagship, Squawk Box"

> Nov. 12: Capital Report's final broadcast

> Oct. 22: Are Kudlow & Cramer CNBC's most under-utilized asset?

> Oct. 11: Louis Rukeyser's CNBC program will end in December due to his lengthy illness

> Sept. 28: CNBC gives Donny Deutsch's 'Big Idea' a six-month pickup

> Sept. 23: Woody Fraser, who signed on as a consultant to McEnroe six weeks before, "is no longer connected" to it

> Sept. 9: CNBC renews Dennis Miller through the end of 2005

> Aug. 5: TVNewser introduces a contest: "When Will Mac Get The Sack?"

> Jul. 23: Jeff Zucker holds a "pow-wow" with top CNBC folks

> Jul. 7: McEnroe premieres: "At one point, I wondered aloud if I was watching one of the 'dry runs' of the show"

> Jul. 2: John McEnroe's CNBC show is hyped in the media

> May 15: "The News" ends. 'Cover to Cover' repeats replace it

> May 12: Maria Bartiromo's last broadcast from the floor of the NYSE

> May 4: CNBC host Louis Rukeyser will be off the air for "the forseeable future" because of a "low-grade malignancy"

> Apr. 28: "CNBC is in talks with Sharpton...about hosting a series of specials"

> Mar. 23: "Dennis Miller is still in search of his magic formula," the NYDN concludes

> Feb. 17: Steve Friedman signs on as a consultant to the "struggling" Dennis Miller show

> Jan. 26: Dennis Miller premieres on CNBC. "We will do the news as catharsis," he says. "The show certainly has room to improve, as he admitted at the end..."

> Jan. 24: "The governing theory behind the [new] prime-time lineup is, 'Work hard, play hard,'" PTG says

> Jan. 16: Brian Williams signs off after 1,935 Hours of "The News"

> Jan. 13: CNBC announces new stock restrictions for its employees

> Jan. 14: John McEnroe to host CNBC Talk Show

> Jan. 15: CNBC starts airing 'Apprentice' repeats in primetime

> Nov. 17: "I think CNBC is a pretty disappointing channel at the moment," Murdoch says. He said the Fox biz channel would offer "more positive programming"

> Nov. 8: Ailes says the channel will have "a certain pace, graphics, look the others don't have"

> Nov. 4: Murdoch comments: "CNNfn was never a factor in our thinking at all. CNBC is. We expect to go ahead with that in the foreseeable future. I can't give you a date because it depends on negotiations that are only just beginning for distribution"
> Oct. 5: Murdoch calls a Fox Business Channel "a no-brainer"

> May 24: FOXNews.com plans to introduce "a robust business-finance section" later this year

> May 6: "On a conference call with investors and reporters, Murdoch said the company planned to launch a new Fox channel by the end of the year," the AP reported (What happened?)

> Mar. 3: "CNBC has no competition," Roger Ailes says, "so whenever you have a situation where you have no competition...you have an opportunity to do business"

> Jan. 9: FOX Biz Success: "We do it in straightforward English"

> Jan. 8: FNC Dominating Business News

Note: Since CableNewser didn't become TVNewser and start covering the broadcast nets until July, there are less items about the big three.

> Dec. 22: ABC News veteran and former Nightly News EP Jeff Gralnick will serve as an "Internet and Technology Consultant" for NBC News

> Dec. 3: Brian Williams signs on: "It means so much to have you with us as we continue a great tradition... starting tonight"

> Dec. 2: Tom Brokaw signs off: "That's Nightly News for this Wednesday night; I'm Tom Brokaw; You'll see Brian Williams here tomorrow night; and I'll see you along the way"

> Nov. 5: NBC correspondents Robert Hager and Fred Francis retire

> Sept. 9: The White House called Neal Shapiro to "discourage" a Kitty Kelley interview. (It didn't work))

> Aug. 13: In Athens, "at least one NBC Olympics anchor never will be more than 90 seconds away from a studio to go on the air in an emergency"

> Aug. 13: An NBC producer and photog were detained as they prepared a story "about how easy it might be to charter a helicopter for a potential terrorist attack"

> Aug. 9: NBC prepares for possible terrorism at the Olympics

> Jul. 26: NBC begins providing cellular newscasts via NBC Mobile

> Jul. 6: NBC's Andrea Mitchell breaks the Edwards VP news, at 7:30am. Fox repeated it 3 minutes later

> Jul. 1: Oops: Today shows "Katie Couric batting a badminton shuttlecock while its rivals showed the first footage of Saddam Hussein's court appearance"

> May 28: Three NBC News journalists, including Ned Colt, are released after being held captive in Iraq for three days

> May 18: An Iraqi journalist working for NBC News was beaten and mistreated by U.S. military forces, VP Bill Wheatley says

> Apr. 6: Remembering David Bloom

> Mar. 10: CNN vet Martin Savidge joins NBC News

> Feb. 11: Bob Arnot's contract isn't renewed at NBC

> Jan. 23: Joe Johns and Jim Avila leave NBC News

> Dec. 30: GMA reports its "best 4th quarter in a decade." "The difference between 'GMA' and NBC's 'Today' fell 37%...the smallest gap in any quarter since 2nd Quarter 1996"

> Nov. 19: The rumblings about a shakeup at Nightline begin to surface. Tom Bettag replaces Leroy Seivers as EP

> Oct. 31: Peter Jennings is "making the most of the changing of the guard" in network news

> Oct. 28: ABC News believes a Bush administration official leaked news that ABC was trying to authenticate a possible bin Laden tape

> Oct. 9: ABCNews.com unveils a web site redesign

> Sept. 4: The weekend edition of Good Morning America premieres

> Sept. 2: Meet Wonbo Woo, ABC's "wireless reporter"

> Aug. 28: Paul Slavin is "guardedly optimistic" that the network will continue beyond Nov. 2

> Aug. 16: Why was ABC News granted "exclusive access" to Michael Jackson?

> Aug. 12: Bob Iger says ABC News Now will likely live beyond election day, "because it's the future of television news"

> Jul. 29: Tom Shales praises it a "sign of the future," but Elizabeth Jensen calls it a "last-minute, low-budget effort"

> Jul. 28: Monday's 7pm broadcast was seen by 210,000 AOL subscribers

> Jul. 26: Sam Donaldson relates this moment to Alexander Graham Bell's invention of the telephone

> Jul. 26: Most people haven't realized it yet, but this day is historic: ABC's digital broadcasting experiment commences

> Jul. 12: ABC announces plans for a "24/7 streaming news channel" through election day

> Jan. 7: Westin Comments on ABC Digital News Network

> Dec. 19: B&C floats Katie Couric's name for Rather's chair

> Dec. 13: "It appears the panel might wait until January" before releasing the Memogate report

> Dec. 1: CBS is "exploring every possibility," Moonves says, including having more than one anchor

> Nov. 26: Moonves says CBS News "needs a shot in the arm right now"

> Nov. 24: The successor speculation begins. "We will look outside and inside...for the best person," Heyward says

> Nov. 23: "Dan Rather announced today that he will step down as anchor and managing editor of the CBS Evening News on March 9, 2005"

> Nov. 11: CBS apologizes for interrupting the end of CSI to break the news that Yasser Arafat had died. The producer responsible for the mistake was fired the next day

> Nov. 11: "We're all apprehensive" about the investigation, CBS's Bob Schieffer says. "Nobody knows what this commission is going to find"

> Nov. 9: Is 60 Minutes Wednesday "reworking itself as an entertainment-based show?"

> Oct. 4: "There is a kind of political jihad against Dan Rather and CBS News that is quite outrageous," Tom Brokaw says

> Sept. 27: "The options under consideration include having Mr. Rather step down sometime next spring," the NYT says

> Sept. 25: "CBS News has shelved a '60 Minutes' report on the rationale for war in Iraq because it would be 'inappropriate' to air it so close to the presidential election"

> Sept. 22: CBS names former U.S. Attorney General Dick Thornburgh and retired AP president Louis D. Boccardi to the Memogate panel

> Sept. 20: Rather on the evening news: "We made a mistake in judgment, and for that I am sorry." CBS plans to commission an independent review

> Sept. 15: "We continue to believe in this story," a CBS VP says. Rather says the controversy is "your basic fogging machine"

> Sept. 14: WP discovers "dozens of inconsistencies" in the memos; Rather's colleagues at CBS are "distressed" and nervous"

> Sept. 10: Dan Rather: "I know that this story is true...There isn't going to be an apology"

> Sept. 10: "CBS News executives have launched an internal investigation into whether its premiere news program 60 Minutes aired fabricated documents"

> Aug. 27: Rather plans to anchor Monday night GOP conv. coverage on WCBS in NYC

> Aug. 11: "CBS News veteran Mike Wallace, 86, was arrested Tuesday evening outside a New York City restaurant and issued a summons for 'disorderly conduct'"

> Aug. 10: A CBS News report mistakenly identifies a NY software engineer as a terrorist

> Tsunami: Dec. 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31

> Peterson Trial: Nov. 12 and Dec. 13

> Election: Nov. 2 and 3

> Debates: Sept. 30, Oct. 5

> Hurricane Jeanne: Sept. 25, Sept. 26

> Hurricane Ivan: Sept. 16

> Hurricane Frances: Sept. 3

> Hurricane Charley: Aug. 13

> Republican National Convention: Aug. 30, 31, Sept. 1, 2

> Democratic National Convention: Jul. 25, 26, 27, 28, 29

> Reagan: Jun. 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

> D-Day Anniversary: Jun. 4, Jun. 6

> Super Tuesday: Mar. 2

> New Hampshire Primary: Jan. 27

> State of the Union: Jan. 20

Looking back at some of TVNewser's interviews this year:

> Dec. 24: CBS's Bill Plante talks about his cameo in the White House Christmas video: "Barney was no less responsive than a lot of the politicians I've covered over the years!"

> Dec. 16: Peter Shaplen, the media coordinator for the Peterson trial, describes the "San Mateo model:" "We got tremendous, tremendous cooperation from the court and the sheriff -- far more than we ever would have expected. It enabled people to do really really good work"

> Nov. 30: Bernard Gershon, vice president for the ABC News Digital Media Group, talks about ABC News Now: "If I were at one of our competitors, I'd say 'Hey, those guys don't have any viewers, they can do whatever the hell they'd like.' But we look at it as 'Hey, let's take this opportunity, let's train our guys, let's experiment'"

> Nov. 2: CNN's Sam Feist prepares for election night: "I think you'll find that CNN's coverage looks completely different from the other networks...We have never deployed more editorial staffers to cover an election day"

> Nov. 2: FNC's Jim Angle, on election eve, says his network is serious about balance: "You have to have an internal gyroscope to keep you from tilting even accidentally to one side or the other"

> Aug. 14: ABC's GMA weatherman Tony Perkins describes his travels during Hurricane Charley: "We've been on the road for three days now, tracking the storm...Your adrenaline keeps you going"

> Aug. 6: CNN's Christiane Amanpour, in Sudan, says the lack of media attention to the humanitarian crisis is "shameful:" "Europeans have started to pay more attention, but there is still not enough attention by American news organizations, especially television news organizations"

> Jul. 28: ABC's Marc Ambinder dismisses the suggestion that the convention is a media circus: "I see the convention as a way to engage Americans in politics"

> Jul. 27: CNN's Judy Woodruff, from the Democratic convention, talks about the challenges facing the media: "It's easier than ever to get caught up in a blizzard of criticisms aimed in each direction"

> Jul. 26: NBC News E.P. Mark Lukasiewicz describes the tough task his team has at the conventions: "The challenge is not only the complex logistical set-up at a place like the Fleet Center, but the demands of coordinating programming for all of our different platforms"

> Jul. 6: NBC's Andrea Mitchell describes how she earned the scoop that Kerry would choose Edwards as his VP: "I think getting the scoop was, frankly, the result of old-fashioned 'shoe leather'"

> Jun. 25: FNC's Neil Cavuto explains his interview techniques on the eve of a sit-down with President Bush: "The only goal I have is to not drudge up the same old thing or to let anyone...repeat the same, tired lines"

> Apr. 12: Scott Collins, author of "Crazy Like A Fox," says "the rise of Fox News is, to me, one of the biggest stories to hit the TV business in the past decade"

TVNewser visitors were the first to learn about Paul Wolfowitz's apology to journalists, CNBC's attempts to save McEnroe, CNN's convention platform, Tucker Carlson's contract talks, and MSNBC's plans for 2005. Some highlights from this blog's original reporting during the year:

> Dec. 23: New CNN prez Jon Klein is taking his "Security Watch" segments seriously, fining IP Sunday $5,000 along the way

> Dec. 19: MSNBC is close to signing a deal with CNN's Tucker Carlson, paving the way for the conservative Crossfire co-host to fill the 9:00pm primetime position soon to be vacated by Deborah Norville

> Dec. 14: CNN Headline News is retooling its primetime: A legal show at 7, an entertainment show at 8, and an hour of news from Atlanta at 9. (Reese Schonfeld calls it "news suicide")

> Dec. 9: "Everyone is hoping Rupert Murdoch will pull the trigger soon" and launch a Fox business channel, a CNNfn employee says, one week before the network signs off

> Nov. 29: MSNBC is talking to a "well known" TV personality to replace Deborah Norville and save the network's 9pm timeslot

> Nov. 23: CBS officials started preparing for Dan Rather to step down last summer -- but then the '60 Minutes II' National Guard story "threw things for a loop"

> Nov. 17: Radio talk show host Monica Crowley is coming to MSNBC to co-host a show wih Ron Reagan

> Oct. 27: CNBC announces that repeats of 'Late Night with Conan O'Brien' will replace 'Capital Report' at 7pm

> Oct. 4: "Fox News staffers were informed of several changes today regarding use of the network's internal scripts queue, following the publishing of fabricated quotes written by Carl Cameron"

> Sept. 30: CNBC cancels the informative but ratings-challenged Capital Report

> Sept. 24: "Once again, big changes at Headline News are coming:" Blue Sky is set to launch in the first quarter of 2005

> Sept. 2: Behind-the-scenes access to CNN, MSNBC and Fox at the GOP convention

> Aug. 12: Douglas Warshaw is removed from the McEnroe show and "kicked upstairs;" Woody Fraser is brought in

> Aug. 12: Jeff Zucker turns to his close friend Jonathan Wald to help improve CNBC's sagging primetime schedule

> Jul. 20: CableNewser learns that CNN plans to broadcast from the floor of the Dem's convention

> Jul. 14: In an e-mail to CableNewser, an anonymous Fox employee says "challenging Republicans is not the Fox way"

> Jul. 13: The first-ever review of "Outfoxed"

> Jun. 24: Paul Wolfowitz apologizes for criticizing media coverage of the war in Iraq

> May 25: "CNN is in the early stages of development on a 24-hour broadband news channel for Internet users." CNN NewsStream Live "will target users at work without a TV nearby"

Highlights of TVNewser's constant analysis of the ratings:

> Dec. 14: Brian Williams' first full week as anchor: "Tom Brokaw did not take viewers with him"

> Dec. 3: Tom Brokaw's sign-off draws the most viewers to Nightly News in seven years

> Dec. 2: November #'s: "Fox News Channel claimed the top eleven shows in cable news for the first time ever and beat all of its competitors combined in primetime for the third consecutive month"

> Nov. 3: NBC averaged 15 million and ABC averaged 13 million viewers on election night. FNC averaged 6.7 mil

> Nov. 2: For the first time, FNC has the top six programs in primetime. FNC's daytime beat Paula Zahn and Aaron Brown

> Oct. 20: O'Reilly's ratings surge in the wake of the lawsuits

> Oct. 4: Headline News starts running promos touting the network's daytime ratings win over MSNBC

> Oct. 2: The Daily Show breaks viewership records

> Oct. 1: Fox News Channel averaged 9.6 million viewers for the first debate -- its second-highest numbers for a single telecast ever

> Sept. 28: September ratings: FNC beats all competitors combined in primetime; MSNBC calls itself the "fastest growing cable network in primetime"

> Sept. 17: Hurricane Ivan delivered the Weather Channel its best day ever

> Sept. 1: FNC beats the broadcast networks during Tuesday night coverage of the GOP convention. MSNBC beat CNN in the 25-54 demo

> Aug. 27: MSNBC beats CNN in primetime for the first time ever, thanks partly to the Olympics

> Aug. 24: MSNBC receives a major boost from the Olympics

> Aug. 12: In McEnroe's first 26 shows, he has scratched 20 times

> Jul. 29: During the Dem convention, CNN beats FNC in primetime, but Fox still leads in total day. MSNBC promotes its "tremendous audience growth"

> Jul. 27: July ratings come out, and McEnroe is the lowest-ranked show in primetime

> Jul. 26: Fox says "Outfoxed" has boosted its ratings

> Jul. 22: We wonder: Has McEnroe given up hope yet? He scratches again

> Jun. 29: Fox criticizes other cablers in a June ratings press release; Keith Olbermann calls Fox "the worst winners TV's ever seen"

> Jun. 16: Fox's coverage of the Reagan funeral is the #1 basic cable program of the week

> Jun. 8: Fox averages 1.2 million viewers when Reagan dies; CNN averaged 837,000 and MSNBC had 369,000

> Jun. 1: Hardball beats 360 in total viewers and households for the second month in a row. The staff held a pool party in DC

> May 26: "On Tuesday -- for the fifth time this month -- CNBC scratched (>>) for total day in the key 25-54 demo"

> Apr. 27: Hardball beats Anderson Cooper 360 in April, marking "the first time MSNBC has ever claimed a win over CNN in a key evening hour"

> Apr. 14: FNC triples CNN's ratings during a prez. press conference

> Apr. 6: The ratings game: FOX's average Vs. CNN's cume

> Mar. 30: First quarter ratings blitz! The networks show a decline from 2003's war-boosted #'s

> Mar. 4: CNN wins a "slim" ratings victory on Super Tuesday

> Mar. 2: Fox declares it has a "commanding" advantage over CNN; MSNBC has only one show in the top 25

> Mar. 1: "Fox is killing CNN and MSNBC" on primary nights

> Feb. 5: CNN beats FNC for a few minutes during primary coverage; Fox won the night, but CNN and MSNBC's ratings surge

> Jan. 22: SOTU ratings: FNC "crushes" and "thrashes" CNN

> Jan. 10: "Among children ages 6 to 11, Fox News viewership was up 100% in 2003, and CNN viewership was up 20%."

"You could have sex tonight and the baby would be born before this presidential election," Chris Matthews said in February, highlighting how long the race was. But it finally concluded in November. Some of the memorable moments:

> Nov. 3: At 12:41:20am, Fox News projects that Bush will win Ohio. NBC follows 20 minutes later. The networks are at the brink of calling the race for Bush, but they all wait until around 11:15am ET on Wednesday

> Nov. 2: Exit polls come under scrutiny: "Somebody needs to re-assess exit polling," Tucker Carlson says. "It stinks"

> Nov. 2: "This is reality television," Brokaw says. "Someone, before this night is over or when this night is over, will be voted off the island"

> Nov. 1: The details of each network's projection-making process

> Oct. 20: NBC describes ten changes it is making to its election night processes

> Oct. 13: CNN announces plans to broadcast from the Nasdaq Marketsite on Nov. 2

> Oct. 6: The GOP releases a web video and "research" criticizing MSNBC anchor Chris Matthews

> Oct. 6: NBC announces plans for Democracy Plaza at 30 Rock

> Oct. 6: Two Pew polls say that CNN's audience is more bi-partisan than FNC's

> Sept. 29: Media organizations decide to ignore the debate restrictions agreed upon by the campaigns, like no split-screen shots

> Sept. 14: The DNC uses footage from NBC and CBS broadcasts in an attack ad; The networks ask them to pull the ad

> Sept. 2: "Get outta my face," Zell Miller tells Chris Matthews. Miller suggested he could challenge the MSNBC anchor to a duel

> Sept. 1: Tom Brokaw calls the lack of network convention coverage "very frustrating"

> Aug. 31: A protester jumps the fence and tries to attack Chris Matthews in Herald Square -- and it's shown live on-air

> Aug. 31: CNN takes over the Tick Tock Diner in NYC during the convention

> Aug. 31: TV producers try to filter out the GOP's effective message-making inside the convention hall

> Aug. 17: MSNBC's Chris Matthews challenges an RNC attack ad which distorts a Hardball interview

> Aug. 2: Each of the cable nets spent the majority of their time on-air talking to each other, rather than airing the "gavel-to-gavel" convention coverage their promos alluded to

> Jul. 29: Analysts suggest that John Kerry rushed through his speech to please the TV networks, which wanted to sign off at 11pm

> Jul. 27: "MSNBC is treading lightly on traditional standards of journalism," I say, because Ron Reagan is addressing the convention, then co-anchoring an MSNBC talk show

> Jul. 27: Conventioneers are abuzz about O'Reilly's interview with Michael Moore

> Jul. 26: FNC creates a stir when it ignores Al Gore's speech on Monday. ("Our job is to analyze what happens here and at the Republican convention, not bring you wall to wall blather," O'Reilly says later)

> Jul. 23: CNN's DNC floor platform is very cool: Look at Wolf's tiny microphone!

> Mar. 2: Super Tuesday is a long night for the cablers

> Mar. 1: Hopping aboard the CNN and ABC electon buses

> Jan. 29: Roger Ailes on the Dean Scream: "It got overplayed a bit"

> Jan. 27: NH Primary: "Many moments in the wall-to-wall coverage previewed February's primaries"

> Jan. 26: MSNBC's Chris Matthews has "the political penal colony to beat this election year," Joe Hagan writes

> Jan. 20: Live-blogging the State of the Union coverage

> Jan. 19: Iowa Caucus: "FOX was first with the numbers; CNN focused on reporting; MSNBC talked a lot and had some exclusives"

> Jan. 18: Dean tells supporters that all [O'Reilly] does is shouts at his guests"

> Jan. 18: The Iowa Caucus is "the first test of a new polling and vote-counting system"

> Nov. 15: NBC's Kevin Sites, a pool reporter in Fallujah, witnesses a U.S. Marine killing an unarmed and wounded Iraqi prisoner. He described himself as a "conflicted conduit" in a blog post a week later

> Nov. 9: "Our paramount concern is the safety of our colleagues in Iraq"

> Nov. 8: Many correspondents embed with the military as an assault on Fallujah begins

> Oct. 19: "Improving the media industry in Iraq" would "go a long way to shoring up the foundations of this new democracy," FNC's Scott Rutter says

> Oct. 7: CNN's Brent Sadler compares travel in Iraq to a game of Russian roulette

> Oct. 7: Cameras are rolling as gunfire ensues in Baghdad. One FNC staffer suffered a minor head wound when a rocket hit their hotel

> Sept. 29: Western journalists in Iraq "are like infants -- must be spoon fed information to stay alive," Kevin Sites blogs

> Aug. 16: Police officials in the holy Iraqi city of Najaf order journalists to leave the city, saying that authorities could not guarantee their safety

> Jul. 1: Saddam goes to court, and the media covers it extensively

> Jun. 28: The media's plans for coverage of the "handover of power" are shredded when the ceremony happens ahead of schedule

> Jun. 3: "Representatives from more than a dozen media organizations met with acting assistant secretary of defence Lawrence Di Rita last week to discuss media safety in Iraq"

> Apr. 15: The pool in Fallujah helps "minimize exposure" and "minimize risk," CNN's Eason Jordan says. "I'm proud that we're not letting our competitive pressures get in the way of covering the story," Neal Shapiro says

> Apr. 12: Networks pool their resources and share info in Fallujah; CNN assignment editor Tomas Etzler is slightly wounded in an attack...

> Mar. 31: Horror in Fallujah: News orgs differ in their treatment of the story

> Mar. 19: All the news networks devote coverage to the one-year anniversary of the war

> Jan. 27: Two CNN employees were killed when their convoy is ambushed in Iraq. Translator/producer Duraid Isa Mohammed and driver Yasser Khatab both died of multiple gunshot wounds

> Jan. 12: Analyzing news network staffing levels in Iraq