US campaign coverage a boon to cable networks

Washington

DONALD Trump and Hillary Clinton have been very, very good for the cable news networks.

Thanks to an audience surge driven by nearly round-the-clock campaign coverage, the leading news networks will reap unprecedented profits this year.

According to people intimately familiar with CNN's finances, the network and its related media businesses will approach US$1 billion in gross profit in 2016, a milestone unseen in its 36-year history. The internal estimate reflects a double-digit increase over 2015; it includes CNN's international network, its popular website and the smaller HLN network, but is driven primarily by its domestic channel, according to people at CNN.

Fox News, the long-time ratings leader among cable news outlets, was already in the billion-dollar profit club before 2016. Despite a tempestuous patch this summer when its parent company ousted Fox's chairman and co-founder, Roger Ailes, Fox News is projected to have its most financially lucrative year. Its gross profit will top US$1.67 billion, according to SNL Kagan, a m…