This is hardly worthy of a diary, so I apologize in advance, but I still found it annoying. Take a look at Dish Network's channel chart, below, which breaks down the available channels according to which bundled package they are available in:
Dish network plans
Notice anything strange?
Simply, Fox News Channel is available in every channel plan... even Family. By contrast, MSNBC is not available in Family, or Bronze 100, or even Bronze 100+. You have to go all the way to Silver 200 to watch Rachel Maddow, Keith Olbermann, or any of the other MSNBC programs.
I don't know if this is similar to what you'd find on Comcast, or Time Warner Cable, or AT&T U-verse, but if it is, it makes the ratings for Fox News less impressive. Certainly Fox News has a significantly larger potential audience because it's available to more customers. I wonder how MSNBC shows would fare in the ratings if the playing field was more level?
And... does anyone know where I could go to sign a petition to get this changed, at least on DISH?