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Basketball, 'Idol' at center of CBS-Fox duel

Story Highlights
Memphis-Kansas game finishes fifth in ratings
"American Idol" broadcasts are Nos. 1, 2 and 6
Amid rumors of her future, Katie Couric's ratings still low
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NEW YORK (AP) -- The gripping men's college basketball final between Kansas and Memphis helped CBS into a virtual dead heat with Fox despite some four hours of "American Idol" programming last week.

Nielsen Top 10

Prime-time viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen Media Research for April 7-13.

1. "American Idol" (Tuesday), Fox, 24.67 million viewers.
2. "American Idol" (Thursday)," Fox, 20.13 million viewers.
3. "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," CBS, 20.09 million
viewers.
4. "Dancing With The Stars" (Monday), ABC, 19.68 million viewers.
5. "NCAA Basketball Championship: Kansas vs. Memphis," CBS, 19.5 million viewers.
6. "Idol Gives Back," Fox, 17.75 million viewers.
7. "Dancing With The Stars" (Tuesday), ABC, 17.02 million viewers.
8. "Desperate Housewives," ABC, 16.37 million viewers.
9. "Without a Trace," CBS, 14.49 million viewers.
10. "NCIS," CBS, 14.05 million viewers.

The NCAA final was seen by 19.5 million people, according to Nielsen Media Research. Led by "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," five procedural dramas on CBS populated Nielsen's top 20.

CBS had the most to gain by the end of the writers strike, according to a report issued this week by researchers at Magna Global. It relied more on repeats instead of reality series during the strike, forcing its ratings down.

NBC did well during the strike with some of its reality series, but has sunk into fourth place since.

ABC's "Desperate Housewives" returned Sunday with 16.4 million viewers, Nielsen said. That's down from the 19.8 million for its last original episode in January. But the show tends to lose viewers with the approach of good weather; this week's viewership was virtually identical to the same week last year.

For the week, Fox averaged 10.27 million viewers (6.1 rating, 10 share), while CBS had 10.25 million (6.6, 11). ABC had 8.1 million viewers (5.3, 9), NBC 6.6 million (4.3, 7), the CW 2 million viewers (1.3, 2), My Network TV 1.1 million (0.7, 1) and ION Television 550,000 million (0.4, 1).

Among the Spanish-language networks, Univision led the way with 3.6 million viewers (1.8 rating, 3 share). Telemundo had 1.2 million (0.7, 1), TeleFutura 860,000 (0.4, 1) and Azteca 150,000 (0.1, 1).

Amid speculation that Katie Couric would leave as "CBS Evening News" anchor within the next year, her broadcast narrowly missed a record low viewership last week. The broadcast was seen by 5.6 million people (3.9 rating, 8 share).

ABC's "World News" won the ratings race, averaging 8 million viewers (5.6, 12), while NBC's "Nightly News" had 7.9 million viewers (5.4, 11).

A ratings point represents 1,128,000 households, or 1 percent of the nation's estimated 112.8 million TV homes. The share is the percentage of in-use televisions tuned to a given show. E-mail to a friend