Below The Beltway

The company that defined cable news finds itself at the bottom of the pack:

CNN, which created the all-news cable network almost 30 years ago, hit a new competitive low with its prime-time programs in October, with three of its four programs between 7 and 11 p.m. finishing fourth and last among the cable news networks.

It was the first time that the programs had ever performed that poorly against their news network competitors. October was also the third month in the last year that CNN as a network finished fourth behind the three other cable news networks in prime time with the audience that the networks rely on for advertising sales.

CNN had a strong performance in the election year of 2008, but the channel’s prime-time numbers are down 22 percent from 2007.

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Perhaps most alarming for CNN was the performance of Anderson Cooper, who has become the signature host for the network in prime time. Mr. Cooper, who as recently as 2008 was a ratings leader at 10 p.m., finished fourth and last at 10 p.m. in October. He trailed not only the leader, Greta Van Susteren, on Fox, but Keith Olbermann on MSNBC and Ms. Grace on HLN, despite the fact that both those shows were repeats of programs that had been broadcast at 8 p.m.

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Fox dominates the news channel ratings in prime time, with its opinion-based programs, hosted by Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity, at the top. But its newscasts are also far ahead of CNN programs. Its 7 p.m. show, anchored by Shepard Smith, regarded as a nonideological program, dwarfs every CNN show in prime time.

In October, Mr. Smith averaged 465,000 viewers among the 25- to 54-year-old audience that news sells to advertisers. Lou Dobbs on CNN was fourth in the hour, with 162,000, edged by Ms. Velez-Mitchell on HLN with 166,000. MSNBC’s Chris Matthews and “Hardball” was second with 179,000 viewers.

At 10 p.m., Mr. Cooper had 211,000 viewers, to 223,000 for Mr. Olbermann’s repeat. Ms. Van Susteren had 538,000 viewers, and Ms. Grace averaged 222,000.

For the month, CNN averaged 202,000 viewers, ages 25 to 54. That was far behind the dominant leader, Fox, which averaged 689,000. But it also trailed MSNBC which had 250,000 viewers in that group and HLN, which had 221,000 viewers.

The only CNN program from 7 to 10 p.m. that did not finish last was Larry King, who was third. Mr. Hannity was first and Rachel Maddow on MSNBC second.

When your prime time line up consists of Lou Dobbs, Campbell Brown, Larry King, and Anderson Cooper, it’s a wonder you don’t finish behind the Mexican Soap Opera Channel.