A Tale Of Two MSNBCs

Do the ratings consider the fact that MSNBC is actually not available on a couple of cable providers? I moved over to Verizon FIOS and they said because of execlusivity agreements with Cablevision & Time Warner, MSNBC isn't available in our area

Fox also apparently (Not confirmed) has a policy of paying public places like bars, etc, to show programming. Do all networks do this?

I do think that despite the ratings bonanza for Fox, that doesn't reflect some kind of conservative ideological victory. If 25% of the population (estimates of the conservative right wing base) watches 1 channel while 75% of the rest of the population is spread across all the others - doesn't that just mean people get their information from multiple sources as opposed to depending on 1?

More telling are the surveys that show Fox viewers are woefully misinformed on confirmed factual issues, like the existance of WMD in iraq, Obama's Birth origin, etc. Fox may get a lot of eyeballs, but all they are doing is keeping that population in ignorance. I almost feel bad for them.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost