CBS Gets Prime Time Win

<br>NEW YORK (AP) _ ABC's ``World News Tonight'' snapped a 53-week winning streak enjoyed by ``NBC Nightly News,'' according to Nielsen Media Research figures released Tuesday. <br><br>``World

Wednesday, May 16th 2001, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

NEW YORK (AP) _ ABC's ``World News Tonight'' snapped a 53-week winning streak enjoyed by ``NBC Nightly News,'' according to Nielsen Media Research figures released Tuesday.

``World News Tonight'' had 8.3 million viewers last week (6.5 rating, 15 share), while ``NBC Nightly News'' had 8.2 million (6.0, 14) and the ``CBS Evening News'' had 7.5 million (5.8, 13).

Overall, CBS posted its seventh consecutive household ratings win in prime time.

For the week, CBS averaged 12.1 million viewers (8.4 household rating, 14 share), NBC had 11.4 million viewers (7.9, 14), ABC had 11.3 million (7.8, 13) and Fox had 8.5 million (5.4, 9).

The WB had 3.9 million viewers (2.5 rating, 4 share), UPN had 3.5 million (2.4, 4) and Pax TV had 1.3 million (0.9, 1).

A ratings point represents 1,022,000 households, or 1 percent of the nation's estimated 102.2 million TV homes. The share is the percentage of in-use televisions tuned to a given show.

Unusual for a sweeps period, when special programs are common, all the top 10 shows were episodes of regular series, led by top-ranked ``ER,'' ``The Practice,'' ``Law & Order'' and ``Crime Scene Investigation.''

For the week of May 7-13, the top 10 shows, their networks and ratings: ``ER,'' NBC, 16.0; ``The Practice,'' ABC, 13.9; ``Law & Order,'' NBC, 13.2; ``Crime Scene Investigation,'' CBS, 12.3; ``Everybody Loves Raymond,'' CBS, 12.1; ``The West Wing,'' NBC, 12.0; ``Who Wants to Be a Millionaire'' (Tuesday), ABC, 11.9; ``Who Wants to Be a Millionaire'' (Sunday), ABC, 11.8; ``Friends,'' NBC, 11.4; ``Who Wants to Be a Millionaire'' (Thursday), ABC, 11.1.